Illusions of the World
by Kaith1
Summary: As the world turns, the Indigo Plateau burns. The past has been overwritten, the memories of the lost generation surface, and only the next generation can shatter the illusions. (OC Main Cast)
1. Prolouge

**Kaith:** Okay, I know what you're thinking. "Kaith, another new story? When you're already neglecting your other ones?" Well my friends and I cooked up this story, throwing in my ideas I've never been able to throw in other fanfictions. So I'm sorta working with others on this story so, maybe, possible it'll get updated more often. Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

**Prologue**

The cries of the helpless fell on deaf ears. Shock, awe, and fear had captivated those with the power to help. A ragging inferno engulfed the great stadium; the once proud and magnificent sign that hung above ruined entrance was quickly being reduced to cinders. The words _Indigo Plateau _were now nothing but kindle to the fire.

**One week earlier**

A gale was brewing on the slopes of Mt. Coronet. Snow danced along the night sky, creating intricate patterns with the stars. A full moon shone overhead, casting a pale glow over the ruins of Spear Pillar. Sitting atop a fallen pillar was the figure of a young man, a heavy black coat protecting him from the freezing wind.

"It's beautiful, isn't it Lumeo?" The man asked, gazing up at the night sky.

"Bre…" An Umbreon in his lap purred sleepily, nuzzling closer to its trainer. The blue rings on its body glowed dimly, losing more light every second; a sign that the Pokémon was close to falling asleep. This silence was ideal; the world was at peace right now.

_Master._ A voice spoke in the man's head, breaking the silence. A Lucario appeared in the snow before the man only a second later. The jackal was kneeling before the man's perch, his head bowed like he was a servant before a king. _You have a guest._

Frowning at this news, the man roused his Umbreon. The sleepily Pokémon was disgruntled at this news as well, taking it's time to stretch before leaping of the man's lap. Using the Lucario as a stepping stone, making sure to swat its tail in Lucario's face, Lumeo bounce over to a snow-free piece of the ruins. The Lucario growled at Lumeo, who smugly walked away.

"Not now you two." The trainer scolded.

Laughter echoed off the pillars, surprising trainer and Pokémon. "Your Pokémon are as lively as ever, Alexander." A woman commented. The muffled click of a heel was heard through the snow, signaling the woman's approach. The trainer, Alexander, turned to the entrance of the ruins. A rather tall woman was walking towards him, pushing her way through the snow with ease. Her dark red hair seemed unaffected by the wind, locked into a large sway of curls.

Lumeo growled at her approach, eyeing the Eevee fur coat with anger. The woman frowned at Lumeo, "You know, you should teach your Pokémon some manners. Honchkrow?"

"Krow!" The large black bird came from the shadows, aiming its sharp talons at Lumeo. The Umbreon easily dodged by jumping to another fallen pillar and prepared a counterattack. However, Alexander raised a hand to signal a stop. Lumeo looked dissatisfied with its orders and gave a hiss of annoyance. Honchkrow took up next atop a pillar next to the woman, a smug look on its face.

"What do you want Kathy?" Alexander asked, glaring at the woman.

Kathy pouted, looking down at the young man with sad eyes. "What, no 'Hello!' or 'How are you?' You don't have to be so cold Alexander, we are family after all."

"What do you want?" He repeated.

Kathy sighed, placing a hand on her hip in defeat. "Not in the mood for small talk? Fine, you never were my favorite nephew." Before Alexander could point out that he was her only nephew, Kathy went on. "I've got a job –"

"Not interested." Alexander interrupted. He turned away, fully ready to run. Sinnoh might not be his native region, but he knew these mountains like the back of his hand.

"Mean Look."

Alexander's body froze, every fiber of his being had suddenly been gripped by a billion little hands. His skin crawled and prickled as the click of a heel slowly came closer. "Don't be so hasty now." Kathy's voice came into his ear. "You haven't even heard about the details."

"I don't want to be a part of your corrupt syndicate." Alexander growled. His eyes drilled holes into Kathy as she smugly took the seat he had previously occupied.

"Oh, but trust me. You'll want to hear this." Kathy paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts. "I guess the word job doesn't accurately describe my dream."

"Then what is you dream?"

A grin spread across Kathy's face, like she had been waiting for Alexander to ask the question. "What I dream for is simple. What I dream for," She slowly pulled two purple tickets out of her pocket, "is a revolution."

* * *

It was a peaceful and quiet morning for Aspertia City. The sun was shining overhead, warming the cool air quickly. Pidove sang their songs happily in the trees around the city. Being tucked away in the corner of the Unova region had its advantages.

The front doors of the Pokémon School opened up; a man with black hair stood in the entrance. He breathed in the clean morning air with a smile on his face. As he brought an Xtransceiver closer to himself, it began to ring. He was slightly surprised, but answered it. "Hello?"

"You're late Cheren!" A blond woman shouted through the screen. Cheren flinched slightly and a few Pidove from nearby trees took flight. Her bottom lip was put out as she pouted. "You were supposed to meet me at the overlook a half an hour ago."

"Sorry Bel." Cheren apologized, "I had to take care of something first."

Bel sighed. "Was it _him_ again?"

"I actually haven't seen him today yet." Cheren looked around. "Maybe he finally gave up?"

"Don't you wish!" A young voice shouted from above the gym leader.

Cheren sighed. "I think I spoke too soon."

Bel sighed and gave Cheren a half-smile. "Well I'll let you off the hook this time. How about I head for the gym in the meantime?"

"It won't take long." Cheren turned around and looked to the roof of the school. A boy was perched at the peak of the building, the extra cloth of a headband billowed in the wind. Under the locks of red hair, a Pokéball was drawn in the center of the headband. A Tepig stood next to the boy, a confident smile on its face matched the one on the boys. "It's only Sean."

Sean laughed as Cheren ended the call. "Only?" Sean scoffed. "You're poorly underestimating me!"

Cheren watched, unamused, as the boy leapt off the roof with his Tepig and landed on the steps of the school. "What do you want this time?" Cheren asked.

"You know what I want!" Sean accused, pointing dramatically at the gym leader. "I challenge you to a gym battle! Bacon and I will win for sure!"

"Tepig!" Bacon cried energetically in agreement.

Cheren sighed, again. "Sean, we've been over this. You're too young to start challenging the gyms. It's a miracle that Bel and I managed to convince Professor Juniper to give you that Tepig since you're only twelve."

"Other regions let kids start their challenges when they're only ten!" shouted Sean.

"But you're not in another region," Cheren countered, "You're in Unova."

"But I'm strong! You'll see!" Sean turned to his Tepig. "Show him Bacon!"

"Pig!" Bacon cried. It spun around, as if trying to look fancy, before standing on its hind legs and spiting an Ember attack into the air. The small flame flickered for a moment before being extinguish.

"I bet you're pretty scared now!"

"Terrified." Sarcasm was heavily laced on Cheren'c tongue.

"Cheren!" Bel's voice joyfully cried out. The two men turned to see that the blond had just rounded the corner and was running past the Pokécenter. Cheren waved back as Sean suddenly became very quiet. "Ah, Sean!" Bel smiled at the boy when she had finally reached them. "How has Tepig been doing?"

"Ah…" Sean looked down at the ground. "Bacon's been great."

"Is that so?" Bel smiled down at the Tepig, who nodded. "That's wonderful. I knew it was the right partner for you."

"Maybe," Sean shot a dirty look at Cheren, "but Cheren won't accept my challenge so I can't help him get any stronger."

"Is that so?" Bel placed a hand on her face and tilted her head like she was thinking. "Well, Cheren does have a point." Sean seemed to lose all energy he previously had and sank into the pavement. Bel smiled sweetly at the boy. "But you know, age isn't measured by years."

Sean looked up at Bel with a questioning look. "It isn't?"

Bel shook her head and smiled at Cheren who was also shooting her a look. "It's measured," she pointed to her head, "by knowledge!"

"Knowledge?" Sean hung his head. "But I've already memorized everything in Cheren's stupid school…" He muttered.

"Well then, I have the perfect idea!" Bel giggled. Sean looked up curiously as Bel revealed two purple tickets from her bag. "You know that the Pokémon League tournament is being held in Kanto next week, right?" Sean nodded. "Well then takes these!"

Sean took the tickets curiously and read it aloud. "Indigo Plateau Pokémon Tournament VIP spectator. Admit one…" Sean looked up to Bel, his energy seemed to be returning if the sparkle in his eyes was any sign. "You mean!?"

Bel nodded, a smug look on her face. "How about this? You take your grandmother with you to the Tournament! There will be a lot of knowledgeable people there, so it will be the perfect chance to learn something. When you get back I'll quiz you, and if you pass I'll make sure that you'll be given special permission to challenge the gyms!"

A large grin spread across Sean's face before he jumped high into the air. "ALRIGHT!" he screamed. When he landed, Sean immediately took off down the pavement, skidding past the Pokécenter. "Thanks Bel!" he yelled.

Cheren watched the boy disappear, Bacon fast on its trainers heels, before turning to his childhood friend. "I thought those were our tickets."

"They were." Bel giggled.

Cheren sighed. "Bel, I'm a gym leader. I'm supposed to be going to that tournament."

Bel smiled at him before looping her arm around his. "Oh I know, but I talked to Professor Juniper and Lenora beforehand. Lenora won't mind taking your place, you know, since you took over her work as gym leader and all."

Cheren raised an eyebrow. "You expected this to happen, didn't you?"

"Maybe." Bel smiled.

* * *

Smog filled the air of the crowded city, and suspicious vendors lined the allies. Thugs and bikers stood on street corners, glaring at any soul brave enough to venture the streets. On a backstreet, surprisingly free of any of the city's inhabitants, sat a young boy, frustrated out of his mind. A Liepard stood nearby; it growled at any soul that tried to come near.

"I don't understand." The boy mumbled to his Pokémon. "According to the directions dad gave us, White Forest should be around here." He looked up at the grey sky, "But I haven't seen a tree for miles."

Liepard gave the boy a sympathetic look and the trainer sighed. "We're gonna have to get out of here somehow." He stood up and scratched behind the Liepard's ear. "Come on Fluffy, maybe we can find the Pokécenter. I just hope the nurse isn't a thug too…"

Fluffy nodded in agreement, and began to trot down the alley.

"THE HELL YOU ARE!" A voice roared overhead.

The boy jumped, surprised by how close it sounded. Looking up, he spotted a window about three stories up the black building that was partially open. The back of a sweat stained white shirt was standing at the window.

"You don't control my life old man!" Another voice shouted back. It sounded younger than the previous voice, but it was deep.

"As long as you live under my roof, you will live by my rules!" The first voice shouted back. "You're still a kid! What makes you think you're responsible enough to go to Kanto?"

"I'm seventeen! I'm not a kid anymore! You're a lousy excuse for a father!"

"YOU BRAT!" The father roared, "I'll teach you some manners!"

Something that sounded like a lamp shattering into a million pieces followed. Down in the alley, the boy was paralyzed with fear. His Liepard had come back and was tugging at his shirt to try and drag him away. But the effort went without any success. Above, it sounded like a whole city was being demolished.

"Get back here!" The father roared.

"Fuck you! Friend, use High Jump Kick!"

"Scraggy!"

The glass window that was partially open shattered into the alley. Fluffy stopped with the tugging and tackled its trainer out of the way. Glass rained down in the spot the boy was standing before, but his gaze was still on the window. Along with the glass came a Scraggy, which bounced off the two building before landing on the top of a closed dumpster.

"Come back here!"

"Sayonara old man, have a cruddy life!" A second later, a black-haired boy leapt from the window as well. A picture frame sailed out the window with him, shattering into the opposite building. The boy who had just come out the window skidded down the side of the black bricks before landing on a fire escape. From there, he swung down and landed on the dumpster next to the Scraggy.

The teen looked rather impressed with himself, and his Scraggy gave a cry of joy. However, the Liepard growled at two, getting their attention. The acrobatic boy blinked at the other trainer. "Oh, hey."

"Hi…" The younger boy replied.

"Get back here!" Both boys looked up to see a large man throw a Pokéball from the broken window. A rather menacing Druddigon appeared in the air, its eyes dark. "Druddigon, Flamethrower!"

"Shit!" The boy on the dumpster leapt off his perch and ran towards the Liepard and its trainer. "Don't just stand there!" He shouted at them. As he ran past them, the teen grabbed the collar of the other boy and dragged him out of the way of the Flamethrower.

"AGAIN!" The man roared.

Druddigon beat its powerful wings and took after the two boys.

"This way!" The teen yelled, ducking down a side alley. The Liepard trainer followed, their Pokémon leaping into the alley just in time to dodge another Flamethrower. After jumping a fallen crate, the teen yelled over his shoulder, "The Pokécenter is a few blocks away. If we can make it there it should stop following us!" The other boy merely nodded, his breath already ragged from running.

As they turned the next corner, Druddigon was already there waiting for them. "Duck!" The teen shouted, hitting the ground. Trainer and Pokémon copied the teen, the heat scalding their backs. When it ended, the older boy shot up. "Friend, Headbutt!"

Scraggy leapt into the air, bouncing off another dumpster and crashed headfirst into the Druddigon. The dragon cried out and the two Pokémon crashed down to the ground. Scraggy leapt up first, racing back to its trainer. The teen turned helped the younger boy to his feet before dragging him down a different alley.

They ran in silence for a minute before Scraggy's trainer spoke again. "We're almost there! Just one more alley!"

"Digon!" The dragon had appeared right before them once again, fire already swelling up in its throat.

But this time the boy was prepared, "Fake Out!" He ordered.

Fluffy leapt over the two trainers, spinning in mid-air. It slashed at Druddigon, but continued its spin to instead hit with its back legs. Druddigon cried in pain and crashed to the ground. Fluffy landed with grace, flicking its tail in pleasure.

"Hey, not bad." The teen commented. He ran past the fallen Druddigon, making sure to spit on it as he passed. As Fluffy and its trainer passed, the dragon tried to stand up, but flinched backwards as they passed. A few seconds later, they emerged onto the main street, and Fluffy's trainer spotted the familiar red Pokécenter.

The two trainers dashed through the automatic doors, choosing to collapse into the nearest set of chairs. Pokémon and trainers were exhausted, panting for breath. The Scraggy leapt up into its trainer's lap and smiled up at him. The teen smiled back and turned to the boy. He stuck out his hand, "So, we haven't been properly introduced. Name's Khak."

The boy panted, looking the older boy over. "A-Anthony." Taking his hand, Anthony shook it. "You have a weird name."

* * *

A door was slammed open on one of the apartment buildings that lined the street. A girl with long, light brown hair was in the doorway, decked out in a pair of worn-out jeans and a light brown tee. She readjusted her glasses before turning into the door. "I'll be back later mom!" She called and swung a backpack over her shoulder.

"Be home in time for dinner Valerie!" A voice called from inside.

"Kay!" Valerie yelled back. Quickly slamming the door shut again, Valerie jumped off the front stoop and took off charging down the street. As she ran past the bike shop, waving hello to the owner, Valerie pulled a Pokéball out of her bag and tossed it into the air without stopping. After a flash of red light, a Ninetales appeared next to Valerie, charging down the street just like its trainer.

"So," Valerie skidded around a corner and charged into the park, "ready to crack that cypher?" She asked her Pokémon.

"Ni!" The Pokémon cried happily, leaping into the air.

Valerie laughed at her Pokémon's energy. "That's the spirit!" As the two ran past the large statue, dedicated to Palkia and Dialga, Valerie blew it a kiss. _I will discover your secrets._ Valerie thought determinately.

It took about a ten minute charge past the ruined Galactic Building for the two to finally leave the city. Ever since Team Galactic's fall ten years ago, the city had quieted down considerably, not a soul daring to enter the headquarters. Children played games in it now, daring each other to spend a night in the so called haunted building. While it's true that ghost Pokémon had taken up residency, Valerie had yet to hear of a human soul wandering its corridors.

But the building was already out of Valerie's mind as she and Ninetales entered the Eterna Forest. She had another haunted building currently haunting her mind. "You remember where it is, right?" asked Valerie.

Ninetales nodded and ran ahead a few paces. Valerie followed, running along the well beaten path. Her Ninetales had stopped a few feet ahead, looking into the denser woods. Valerie reached her Pokémon and a smile reached her lips as the mansion came into view. "The Old Chateau." Valerie smiled. "Just full of mysteries, begging to be solved!"

Ninetales lead the way, trotting up to the building. Valerie followed and pushed the front door open. As the rusty hinges creaked, a thought popped into Valerie's mind. She turned around and looked back at the main path. _The undergrowth here grows surprisingly quick. So why hasn't it grown back since yesterday?_

But Valerie didn't need anyone to answer that question for her, because the answer had already come into her head. Someone else was here.

She couldn't really be angry if someone was here, it wasn't like Valerie owned the place or anything. But she did have a habit of leaving her research and notes just lying around the chateau's study. If anyone had defiled or even so much as moved a paper, not even Arceus would be able to save them.

Valerie shot inside, leaving her Ninetales slightly dumbfounded at the entrance. She dodged past the wild Ghastly, not that they even bothered attacking her anymore, and flew up the staircase. She ran past one door, two, three, until Valerie had reach the end of the hall. Skidding to a halt, she stopped right before a massive bookcase. It was lined with books of all colors and sizes, some falling apart, others looking brand new; but Valerie had read them all.

Ninetales was only seconds behind, looking up to its master with a questioning look. Valerie was staring at the top shelf as a sigh escaped her lips. "It looks like I'm still the only one who knows."

Just then, the floorboard's creaked from somewhere farther down the hall. Valerie and Ninetales both whipped their heads around. Straining her eyes to see in the dark hallway, Valerie failed to spot anything that wasn't as Ghastly. "Come on," she whispered, "let's go before whoever it is finds us."

Ninetales nodded in agreement and lowered its head. Valerie carefully climbed onto the back of her Pokémon and reached for the very top of the shelf. Her fingertips brushed a large volume, _Poffin Recipes for Beginners. _The first time here, Valerie had considered not even touching it. Everything else on this shelf was about Pokémon themselves, it was out of its element. But that was what had caught her eye in the first place; it stood out like a diamond among simple rocks.

Finally, Valerie's fingers caught the top of the book's spine. She yanked it backward, and a second later it was followed by a soft 'click.' Valerie let the book go, which snapped back into place, and jumped off of Ninetales' back. The bookshelf had already swung inwards slightly, so all she had to do was give it a gentle push.

The secret door gave way to a spacious room, a whole new and cleaner portion of the mansion. The walls were lines with large shelves, much like the one acting as the door, stuffed to the breaking point with books and journals. A single window illuminated the room, casting light across a desk, a large cushion, and countless sheets of paper.

Ninetales immediately ran for the cushion, taking care to not disturb any of the papers on its way. The papers where everywhere, pinned to the walls and shelves, lying on the floor, and several were even attached to the ceiling. Valerie placed her bag down on a free spot on the desk and opened it up. "Hungry?" She asked, pulling out a Sitrus Berry.

She didn't bother waiting for an answer before tossing it through the air to her Pokémon. Ninetales snatched it out of the air greedily and began to munch away. Valerie smiled at her Pokémon and pulled out a notebook and an apple for herself. Crossing the room, she settled down next to Ninetales and opened the notebook.

A purple ticket fell out, sliding onto the floor. "I almost forgot the reason we came today." Valerie picked up the ticket. "We need to decide what we're bringing with us to the Pokémon League tournament."

Ninetales let out a snort at this. Valerie flinched as a bit of guilt shot through her. "I'm sorry I couldn't get us into the actual tournament." She apologized to her Pokémon. Valerie's gaze fell upon her backpack where three badges were pinned to. "You know I'm more of a thinker, not a battler."

Ninetales seemed satisfied with this apology and laid its head down on the cushion. Valerie picked up a paper from the floor and examined it. It was covered in symbols that were foreign to her, two sets of notes scrawled in the margins. One was set her own, written in with fresh ink, and the other was almost as faded as the text itself. The way it was arraigned made it clear she was reading a type of language. "The professors will be showing up during this tournament." Valerie voiced her thoughts. Hopefully she added, "Maybe one of them will be able to recognize it."

Valerie sighed and stood up. She started collecting the papers she had tossed across the room and returning some of the books to their posts on the shelves. A handful of the books had similar symbols scrawled into them. She had been using them as references, assuming they were the key to cracking whatever language was written on the pages scattered across the room. The only problem was that even spending hours poring over all the books in the mansion, she had only been able to collect a handful of translated words. There were simply too many words left to makes heads or tails of it.

As Valerie took a page she had taped to the window, a girl caught Valerie's eye. She had long, black hair spilled out from under a white wool cap. Despite the fact that it was only the beginning of autumn, she was also wearing a large pink jacket, fit for surviving a blizzard. She couldn't be much older than Valerie herself. An Empoleon lumbered behind her as the girl walked closer.

_She must have been the person who was in here earlier. _Valerie thought. Below, the girl's grey eyes scanned her surrounding, clutching a bouquet of flowers a bit tighter in her arms. She seemed a bit agitated. Valerie found herself intrigued. What was this girl doing back here? Where was she headed? What are the flowers for?

Finally, the girl stopped walking and looked around one more time. Her eyes crossed the window and Valerie ducked out of view. She didn't know why she was hiding, but Valerie just felt it was necessary. After a minute, Valerie dared a look. She managed to just catch the back of the Empoleon disappearing into a tree. Yes, right into a tree.

Valerie's eyes widened and the papers fell to the floor. Ninetales looked up, wondering why its trainer would be so careless with her work. "Quick!" Valerie shouted, bolting for the exit.

Less than a minute later, Ninetales ran up to Valerie, who was very intently examining the trees that ran along the property border. Ninetales titled its head and gave Valerie a look.

"Which one was it…" Valerie muttered. She kept touching different trees, looking them up and down with great care.

Ninetales settled down in the grass, knowing that when it was better to leave its trainer alone when she got worked up like this. Valerie continued to obsess over the trees, not even noticing the Bidoof that had appeared behind her Ninetales. The small Pokémon looked extremely confused, but when it spotted the Ninetales the wild Bidoof gave a squeal of fright.

The large fox turned and saw the Bidoof run headfirst into the stump of a tree. The Pokémon ran its head into the tree several more times before running off into the forest. Ninetales tilted its head in confusion, and walked over to the tree Bidoof had tried running into. The scent of the tree was different from the forest, it smelled more of the ocean.

"Ragh!" Valerie suddenly cried out. She had grabbed fistfuls of her own hair and fallen backwards onto the grass. "Where did she go!? I saw her walk _into_ one of these trees!" Suddenly, she sat up, a frown painted on her face. "That was a special distortion." Valerie turned to her Ninetales. "Do you know what that means?" When the Pokémon shook its head, Valerie grinned, "It means she's connected to Palkia."

* * *

Spectators of this battle screamed with excitement and encouragement for both sides of this battle. On one side, an old man with a cane and bowler hat gave orders to his Arcanine, a white mustache decorating his upper lip. The other side, a young woman with long blond hair gave orders to a Charizard. Her fashion choice happened to be nothing but simple two piece swimsuit.

"Charizard, use Flamethrower!"

"Dodge it with Extemespeed Arcanine!"

Arcanine ran along the make-shift battlefield, drawing the Charizard among the construction of a new looking gym. More people chattered and yelled excitedly as the two Pokémon ran by them. Once clear of the construction, the Charizard opened its powerful jaw and let loose a jet of flame aimed at the Arcanine's tail.

However, just like its trainer had ordered, the fire dog disappeared from sight at the last second, causing the flame to crash into the ground harmlessly.

"Above you!" The woman shouted.

Charizard looked upwards to see that Arcanine was flying through the air at it. The fiery dog crashed into Charizard and Charizard cried out in pain.

"You need to think ahead!" The old man laughed at his opponent. "Or else you'll never beat me!"

The blond woman smiled at him. "Oh, but we were waiting for that, old man."

"What?" The old man looked up. All eyes turned upwards to see that Arcanine was still in the air, but not of its own accord. It was struggling in Charizard's tiny limbs, trying to free itself from the flying Pokémon.

"Now, use Seismic Toss!" The woman ordered.

Charizard gave a battle cry before flying even higher into the air. Arcanine's cries of terror filled the air, getting fainter with every second. Very quickly the two had become nothing but a dot high in the sky. However, as quickly as they had become the dot, the two Pokémon were suddenly becoming larger again as Charizard started its plummet back to the ground.

Mere seconds away from crashing, the Charizard let Arcanine go, and the Pokémon shot towards the ground faster than a speeding bullet. Arcanine connected with the ground and a cloud of dust was sent flying into the air. The spectators began coughing until the beat of Charizard's powerful wings cleared the dust cloud away. Sitting in a small crater, was Arcanine, knocked out.

"Blaine's Arcanine is unable to battle!" A small man declared as he raised a small red flag. "The winner is Simbachu!"

"Alright!" The blond yelled while pumping her fist into the air. Her Charizard landed nearby, a smug look on its face.

Blaine recalled his fainted Pokémon and walked over to Simbachu, a smile on his face. "Congratulations!"

Simbachu smiled awkwardly, her gaze pointed towards the ground. "Thanks Blaine. You fought well."

"Ah, but you were better my dear." Blaine pulled a small case out from his pocket and opened it. Inside was a collection of dark red badges, shaped like the fire that had just ravaged the battlefield. As he took it out, he spoke. "In recognition of your strength and for defeating me in a battle, I hereby present you with the Volcano Badge!"

Simbachu took the badge, giggling like a child who had just stolen some candy. "Alright! That makes eight!" She declared.

"And just in time." Blaine laughed. "The tournament is only a week away."

"I think I can make it." Simbachu smiled at the man before throwing her arms around him. "And I had the best teacher ever to thank for it." She released the old man before turning and jumping onto her Pokémon's back. "See you at the tournament!" She waved.

"Ah, wait!" Blaine reached out, but it was too late. Simbachu and her Charizard were already headed for her place on the other side of Cinnabar Island. Blaine sighed before sitting down on a nearby rock. "I'm getting too old for this." He chuckled.

"You're right." The small man who had been referring the match walked over to Blain. "She is an expert in fire types and a fine battler."

"So, you have no qualms, Mr. President?"

The small man smiled and shook his head. "No. None at all. But shouldn't you go after her and let her know?"

Blaine smiled. "I think it will be a bit more of a surprise this way. That girl always did like surprises." Blaine looked around at the construction currently occupying Cinnabar Island. After the volcano had finally erupted all those years ago, the town was almost completely rebuilt. His eyes came to rest on the rebuilt gym. Everyone on the island had been told it was still being finished, but truthfully it was still just an empty building. "She'll have fun with decorating at least."

The president followed Blaine's gaze and chuckled. "It's kind of fitting that the new gym leader gets a new gym." He admitted. "Expert of fire types, Simbachu, the flaming mermaid."

Blaine laughed. "Don't tell me that's what you plan on putting on the front of the gym!" The president shot Blaine a look, and the old man laughed harder.

The sun shone warmly overhead, not a cloud in sight. Even the water seemed calm today, the waves lazily running up the beach. The boat call of a large cruiser rang out over the water, sending Starly flying in fright. However, this was unable to wake a certain individual.

Lying on his back, and using his hands as a pillow, a man with light brown hair slept. Nearby, a Swellow had made a nest in a dark blue jacket, also taking a nap on this warm, sunny day. A fishing pole had been stuck into an outcropping of rocks, completely alone and abandoned.

A bit farther down the beach, another individual was quickly running towards the sleeping man. It was a woman, her arms full of plastic bags. Flying next to her was an Altaria, another plastic bag held in its beak. The bird was showing signs of fatigue, but continued to beat its wings.

She kept running closer, and closer, frantically looking around like she was searching the beach for something. Finally, she reached the man, and ran right over him, using his stomach as just another part of the beach. Surprised, she uttered a scream and tumbled into the sand. The man was now wide awake, also screaming, but he was screaming in pain. The Swellow had awoken, squawking with fright as the Altaria had decided to copy its trainer.

"Watch where you're going!" The man yelled, clenching his stomach. He looked to the fallen woman, ready to give her a piece of his mind.

Pulling her head out of the sand, she turned to the man she had just trampled. "Oh, are you okay?" She crawled closer as she asked her question. "I hope I didn't hurt you too badly. I didn't even see you!"

The man backed up a bit, not comfortable with how close she was getting. A second ago he was ready to chew her out. Now…not so much. The bright red sundress she wore was a bit askew, revealing parts of her skin that had not been tanned. Sand was still falling from her long, light orange hair. Looking behind her, the man saw the contents of several plastic bags were split onto the sand, ranging from small statues to beaten books.

"Ah, no I'm fine. It was just an accident, right?" He muttered, not making eye contact.

"Oh I'm so glad!" She exclaimed. With that, the woman stood up and brushed off her flower printed dress before going to pick up the bags and their spilled content.

"Here," the man stood up, "let me help you."

"Why thank you." The woman smiled at him.

"Don't mention it."

A moment later, both trainers looked up at the sound of their Pokémon squabbling. The Swellow was snapping at the Altaria, looking rather angry to be woken up from its nap. "Alcard!" The man scolded his Swellow, "Don't be like that. It was just an accident."

Alcard shot its trainer a look before turning away, its chest puffed out in annoyance. The man shot his Pokémon his own dirty look. "I'm sorry about Alcard." He handed her a snow globe with a lighthouse inside. "He can be a bit difficult at times."

"Oh it's alright. You two did look so peaceful napping."

The man raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you didn't see us."

The woman laughed nervously, but didn't respond. Her items now fully recovered, she stood up and looked around. She bowed, thanking the man and took about three steps down the beach before turning back. "Um, I don't suppose I could bother you for directions, could I?"

"I suppose not." The man smiled. "Where are you looking to get to?"

"Um…the harbor."

The man scratched his chin, collecting his thoughts. "I believe it should be about a thirty minute walk, that way." He gestured in the direction the woman had come from.

"Oh, it was in the opposite direction?" the woman sighed before smiling weakly at her Altaria. "Well I feel silly."

"But I don't think that will do you much good."

The woman shot him a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"

"That," the man pointed out a large ocean cruiser that was quickly becoming a dot, "was the last ship for the day."

The woman's jaw slowly dropped as his words sunk in. "B-But I was supposed to be on that ship!"

The man shrugged. "Your Altaria looks pretty tired. You got any other flying Pokémon?" The woman shook her head. "Well, it looks like you're gonna have to wait for the next on to come in. Here," he stood up and took the jacket from Alcard, who was just about to settle back down, and threw it on. "I'll walk you to the Pokécenter. They should have a few open beds for the night."

"Oh!" The woman looked down, slightly embarrassed. "You don't need to do that."

Alcard took up roost on the man's shoulder, knocking its trainer's head with its wing as if to say 'Don't be a gentleman. I want to sleep.' But the man ignored his Swellow. "Considering you just ran thirty minutes in the wrong direction, I feel like I have to."

The woman blushed and giggled a bit. "You might have a point." She tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "I'm Kar, and this is Sratus."

"Huh?" The man was a bit surprised until Alcard helpfully smacked him. "Oh right! I'm Saimax."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Saimax." Kar smiled. "And thank you."

"Oh don't thank me yet." Saimax picked up the plastic bag before Sratus could. The Altaria shot Saimax a grateful look. "Volkner's been remodeling again. We might be without power tonight."

* * *

"Oh just look at that sunset Elizabeth!" A blue haired man exclaimed. His dark purple dress shirt was like a bright stain on the deck, topped with a black tie. His arms were spread out in joy like he was exalting the heavens. "Isn't it just a fabulous sight over this wonderfully blue ocean?"

"Rose…" A small Roselia perched on the man's shoulder nodded in agreement.

"The salty sea breeze, the spray of the ocean water, and the view!" The man sighed very suggestively, "Oh the waters of Sinnoh are almost as wonderful as Hoenn's!" He inhaled deeply, a content sigh on his face.

"Are you done proposing to the ocean?"

The blue-haired man turned, trying to spot the source of the voice. On the deck of the Royal Anne, that wasn't too hard. Most people were ignoring the blue haired man and his obsession with the ocean, save one. Another man was lying on a nearby chair, a black trench coat folded up by his feet. He lazily turned a page of the book he was reading, _Pokémon Habitats of Unova. _ Bits of his dark brown, almost black, hair stuck out from underneath a white and black bandana.

"Excuse me?" The blue haired man placed a hand on his hip, frowning at the other man.

"I asked if you were done." The reader looked up at the ocean lover with a slightly annoyed look. "Your exclamations of love are kinda getting annoying."

"But love is a beautiful thing!" The blue haired man grabbed a woman who just happened to walk by. "Wouldn't you agree, my dear?"

The woman blushed slightly while in his arms. "I-I guess."

"You guess?" The blue haired man spun the woman around to take in the view he was just partaking in a moment before. "Love is a force that knows no bounds, it goes on forever just like this ocean! It is such a beautiful thing." He turned to the woman. "But not nearly as beautiful as you."

At this the woman's face exploded in color. "T-T-T-Thank you." She stuttered. "But I-I don't even k-know your name."

"Ah, where are my manners." The man sighed placing his hand on his face like he was ashamed of himself. "My name is Christofferson D. Miyazaki, by you may call me Chris for short. And,"

"And I'm Clegs." The reader from before cut in Chris off, placing himself between Chris and the woman. "His boyfriend."

"What?" Chris and the woman both exclaimed, giving Clegs a strange look.

"Yeah, it's really a sad case of in the closet." Clegs sighed and draped an arm around Chris. "I'm talking deep, deep in the closet. It's actually kinda cute."

The woman pushed away, "Um, sorry, I think I need to go."

"Wait!" Chris cried, reaching out after her. But it was too late, as she had already fled halfway down the deck.

"Aw, that's too bad." Clegs put his hand sympathetically on Chris's shoulder. "She was really cute too."

Chris smacked Clegs hand off of himself and spun on the bandana man. "Then why the hell did you tell here we're gay?"

"Because you were interrupting my reading." Clegs sated it like it was obvious. "So, if you promise to leave me alone, I won't go around telling all the girls you're gay. Deal?"

Chris almost growled at the man, frightening Elizabeth slightly. "Deal." Before he could let Clegs say anything else, Chris spun on the spot and stormed off down the deck. "What an unfabulous man," he mumbled.

* * *

An orange glow was cast across the skies of Kanto, deep purples mixing with the blues and puffy white clouds. Dusk was settling in slowly and the hum of bug type Pokémon mixed in perfectly with the humidity. It was the perfect time to take a nap. And that's exactly what a certain individual was doing right now.

Parked underneath a large oak tree outside the eastern gates of Saffron City was a trainer. His black shorts and plain black tee helped him almost blend in with the dark grasses that swayed with the wind. A black wool hat was pulled over his eyes while he rested his head on a backpack. Lying next to the boy was a Cubone, its head lying on the trainers lap. It was peaceful.

That is, until the drunken laughter came out of the underground pathway. The door was slammed open and several rough looking men came out, laughing their asses off. They all had some sort of strange haircut, ranging from mohawks to dreadlocks, and wore black leather jackets that had 'The Golbats' written across the back of them. There were about five total.

The largest one took a swig out of a small brown bottle. When he finished, he used the back of his hand to wipe his mouth. "Eh, I didn't need that stupid broad." He slurred.

"Yeah boss!" Another one agreed. "Bros before hoes!"

"Always!" The boss laughed and took another swig. However, this time he examined it, realized it was empty, and tossed it into the tall grass. A hiss of annoyance followed from the Ekans he had hit.

"Eh boss, check it out!" The smallest one pointed out the sleeping trainer and Cubone. His fingers pointed crookedly, like they had been smashed and broken several times.

"I smell a sucker!" The boss snickered and rubbed his palms together. He brought a finger to his lips, indicating to his buddies to be quiet. The four other men snickered as the boss tiptoed his way over to the boy. He gently picked up the boys head and removed the backpack before charging back to his friends like a mad Tauros. When he returned, they roared with laughter.

"Like stealing candy from a baby!" The small man laughed.

"A sleeping baby!" Another corrected.

The boss laughed. "Now let's see what we got here!" He turned the bag upside down and dumped the contents on the ground. Among the clothes, all black or dark colored clothes, was a journal, a few recovery items, and some candy.

A man with dreadlocks picked through the stuff with a stick, like a child would poke at a piece of poop he found. "Aw, there's nothing good here." He sighed.

Suddenly the little man with the crooked fingers jumped up, a small piece of plastic in his hands. "I got his trainer card!" He giggled like a little girl. "That means I have access to his cash!"

"Gimmie that!" The boss snatched the card from his buddy, giving him a dirty look before attempting to read the card. "Spa, Spa, Spa…" He narrowed his eyes at the card, as if squinting would give him better vision. "Sparta Scales." The boss smiled, rather pleased with himself.

"Who cares who he is." Dreadlocks unwrapped a piece of the hard candy. "Let's just eat the candy." He tossed it into the air and opened his mouth to catch it. An inch from his mouth, it stopped in midair, and dreadlocks snapped his teeth around air. He looked around, slightly confused. The piece of candy flew into its wrapper and quickly rewrapped itself before hopping back into the pile of clothes.

"Hey, he's from Lavender Town." The boss announced, "Isn't that the haunted place?"

"Only if you believe in ghosts." A skinny one waved off his bosses fears. "How much cash does he have?"

As the boss tried to check a piece of plastic for money, the smallest of the group hugged himself. "Hey! Who turned down the heat?" He demanded. "You!" He pointed a boney finger at dreadlocks.

"It's not me!" Deadlocks defended himself. "Blame the sun!" He shouted, pointing at the setting sun.

"DAMN YOU GIANT BALL OF GAS!" Boney fingers screamed at the sky, dropping to his knees.

"Ugh!" The quietest one of the group finally spoke up. "Someone help!"

The other four looked to their buddy. He was hanging upside down in the air, pocket change and other items falling onto the ground. "Hey!" Dreadlocks exclaimed. "How are ya doing that?"

"I don't know!" The man cried, tears were running up his face. "Just get me down!"

"But that's so cool!" Boney exclaimed. In the next second, he was floating too. "Cool!"

"Why's it getting colder?" The boss asked, as he was floating too. In a few seconds, all five men were in the air, and the next second they were flipped upside down and started to shake violently. Now they were all crying like babies, screaming for someone to let them down. After everything loose had been emptied from their pockets, they were thrown together by the invisible force.

"Leave…" A soft voice was carried on the wind into the men's ears.

"W-what?" Boney fingers asked, looking around nervously.

The sky went dark and a white woman appeared, blood running from her tear ducks. "Leave!" She screamed, a powerful wind came screaming from behind her. The men screamed and went charging for the tall grass, as anything seemed better than the woman. The moment they hit the grass, several Ekans hissed and jumped at them. The men screamed even louder, wet spots appearing in their pants before turning around and running back towards the underground path.

The door slammed shut, and the sky returned to the warm colors it was only moments ago. The buzz of Bedrill and flutter of Butterfree wings filled the air again. The woman was missing now, but a pale Marowak appeared slowly pushed its way out of the grass. It walked over to the bag, picking up the spilled contents and replacing them, along with items dropped by the drunken men.

When everything had been placed into the backpack again, the Marowak dragged it towards the sleeping Sparta. After placing it next to the sleeping trainer, it vanished into thin air. Cubone however suddenly sat up. It looked around, blinking its eyes sleepily at the empty road. After a few moment, the Cubone yawned and fell back onto Sparta's lap, quickly falling asleep.

* * *

"Come on, we can work faster than this, can't we?" A girl scolded from her perch on a large crate.

A man with black hair shot the teenager an annoyed look. "Yes, we can, if you actually started to help me!"

The girl laughed, bringing the back of her hand to her mouth like a noble would. "Oh Sora, you amuse me." Sora mumbled under his breath and continued to unpack the crates that filled the room. She watched Sora go about his work, connecting wires to different packages, double checking everything every time me changed or added something to the room.

Sora jumped when a very loud and annoying ringtone went off and shot the girl another look. She smiled and then jumped off the box. "It's from mom; I'll just take this outside." The girl quickly walked out the doors, stepping into the cool night air. "Hello?"

"Feddy!" came a woman's energetic voice. "How are you doing?"

"Ahead of schedule!" Feddy chimed. "I'm glad you called, Sora had me worked halfway to death!" From behind her came sarcastic laughter.

"Well I have something that will lift your spirits. I managed to find Alexander!"

"Really?" Feddy cried happily. "Did you find him rolling around the snow like I said? He's always had a fetish for snow."

"Shut it Feddy!" A male voice came through the phone, clearly irritated. Feddy simply laughed at him snapping at her.

"So, can you give me a full report?" Kathy asked.

"Well," Feddy skipped down the steps and spun on her heel. Her gaze traveled up the tower that seemed to pierce the sky. "Sora and I are almost done at Tin Tower." Feddy sighed. "It's kind of beautiful in its own way. Almost a shame that we have to destroy it."

"Yes." Kathy sighed as well. "But we were never able to get those Kimono girls to summon Ho-oh for us. It's better that we destroy the tower than risk Ho-oh getting in our way."

"Yeah, I know." Feddy sighed again. "Oh! Speaking of legendary Pokémon; team seven has located and captured Zapdos, team nineteen has located and are currently pursuing Suicune, and team thirty-three has managed to steal Regirock, Registeel, Regice, and Riakou from the heads of the Battle Frontier. Oh, and finally, team thirty-nine has captured Cobalion."

"Oh perfect!" Kathy exclaimed joyfully. "You're doing such a great job Feddy. When you're done there, I want you and Sora to meet up with team three and head for the Indigo Plateau."

"Kay, see you soon mom." Feddy hung up the Pokégear and looked around again. Under the pale moon, the golden trees of Ecruteak City seemed to glow with a different sort of radiance compared to the sunlight. She sighed, "This really is a beautiful city."

"Dreavus!"

Feddy looked up and spotted her Misdreavus descending from the sky. She smiled at her Pokémon. "So how did recon go Trello?"

Trello smiled and then bumped into its trainer's forehead. Instantly, images flooded Freddy's mind. Dark, thick trees of a forest made up her vision for a few moments, but then Feddy saw a soft, glowing light ahead. The pale green light seemed to pulsate, growing brighter and dimmer steadily; it was like watching someone's sleeping chest rise and fall slowly.

As Feddy drew closer, the trees began to thin out until she reached the edge of a clearing. Sitting in the center of the clearing was a small shrine, dedicated to a certain green Pokémon. But what Feddy was interested was sleeping in front of the shine. The small green fairy, Celebi was sleeping inside a green sphere.

The image faded and Feddy was now staring eye to eye with her Pokémon. "Looks like it just jumped through time, just like mom predicted." Feddy called back into Tin Tower. "I'm gonna have to leave you for a while Sora! I've got an errand to run."

"Your help will be greatly missed." Sora called back sarcastically.

Feddy smiled as she lazily walked through the forest back towards Ecruteak City. Thoughts about the plan her mother had concocted began to lazily float through her mind. Trello floated through the trees, enjoying the moonlight. "Enjoy the forest while you can." Feddy smiled. _Because soon it will be burnt to the ground_, she thought with a grin.

* * *

Kaith: Yes, all OC's! This is the very first time I've ever written a fanfiction using a completely OC cast, so criticism is welcomed! Flamers are not! Please review!

Oh, and on a little side note, yes, Bel is Bianca. Bel is her Japanese name, and that's what I've come to call her (Cheren's Japanese name is still Cheren in case you're wondering). One reason I call her Bel is also because Cheren and Bel in Japanese are taken from some slavic words. When those are translated from slavic to Japanese, they become Black and White! Cool, right?


	2. Chapter 1: Run For Your Life

**Chapter 1: Run For Your Life**

_**Six days earlier**_

* * *

"I'm serious," Anthony pleaded, "you don't need to do this."

Khak was busy examining himself in a mirror, wearing brand new clothes with the price tags still attached. He smiled at his reflection, looking rather pleased with his new look; a bright red Hawaiian shirt and white cargo pants. He spun on the spot, and his Scraggy applauded. "And I'm telling you," Khak turned to the younger boy, "this is my way of thanking you and apologizing for getting you caught up in my family affair."

Anthony frowned. The two boys had spent the night in the Pokécenter and the day after they had managed to ditch the Druddigon. Khak had woken Anthony up at the crack of dawn and announced that they were going shopping. Khak dragged him out of the Pokécenter and Anthony didn't have much of a choice since the older boy was much stronger than he looked. "But did you have to pick the most expensive place in the city?" Anthony looked at the price tag for a pair of gloves and winced at how many zeros were on it. "I'll feel guilty if you bought this for me."

"Don't worry." Khak was now examining himself wearing a fedora, but apparently didn't like the look and tossed the hat aside. "I took my dad's card before I ran away from home. He was a…" Khak paused, considering his words carefully, "lucky gambler."

Anthony shot him a look, unpleased with his answer. Khak stripped himself of the Hawaiian shirt for the one he originally wore into the store; that's when Anthony noticed them, the scars that is. Khak's body was covered in them, small little white lines and blemishes that looked like they were still healing. Anthony noticed that Khak had spotted him staring at the scars and Anthony looked away, slightly embarrassed.

Just then, Khak dropped a large hat onto Anthony's head. "There!" The older boy said merrily. Before Anthony could protest, he was shoved in front of the mirror. The hat Khak had picked out for him was just about the most ridiculous thing Anthony had ever seen. It was at least three sizes too big, had several large and fluffy feathers sticking out from the top, and was the strangest shade of purple he could imagine.

Anthony couldn't help it, and suddenly he burst out laughing. "What the hell is this?" He laughed so hard that he was starting to cry.

Khak laughed along with him. "I haven't the slightest clue! But it looks good on you!"

"I don't think this thing could make a Jinx look good!"

The two boys burst out laughing harder than before, drawing looks from the other customers. Quickly, a store clerk with her haired tied up into a tight bun walked over to the two boys. Her lips were pursed and she wore an expression like she had just smelled something very foul. "Excuse me boys," she spoke with a heavy accent, her 'Y' sounding like a 'V,' "is something da matter?"

Anthony wiped a tear from his eye and shook his head. "No ma'am. We were just enjoying your selection of hats." Khak snickered, drawing a dirty look from the clerk.

"Well could you please keep it down?" It was obvious she was forcing that smile, "Some of the other customers have been complaining."

"Yeah, sure." Khak waved her comment off. "Do you carry backpacks?"

The clerk sighed and turned. "Right this way, but you should know that Pokémon are not allowed inside the store."

Khak and his Scraggy exchanged looks. "But he's not doing anything."

"Rules are rules, and if you do not comply I will have to ask security to escort you out of the building." Anthony looked around the woman as she spoke, noticing two large men with buzz cuts. On their black sweater vests were stickers that read, 'Hello, my name is SECURITY.'

Khak sighed. "Fine," he turned to the Scraggy, "sorry Friend, looks like you'll have to spend some time in the Pokéball."

As Khak recalled his Scraggy to its Pokéball, the clerk smiled. "Excellent. This way please." She led the two boys across the store and up an escalator, Khak dragging the clothes he liked with him the whole way. After about a five minute hike, the clerk gestured to the far wall of the second floor. "Along that wall you will find all the backpacks we currently have in stock. Is there anything else you require assistance for?"

"Yeah." Khak dumped the clothes he had been lugging into the woman's arms, "could you ring this up for me? I won't be long."

Anthony had to look away to keep from laughing. The woman's eyebrow had begun to twitch and her smile had become so distorted that it hardly looked like a smile. "Certainly. I'll bring your purchases to register three."

"Thanks." Khak smiled and ran off, ignoring the boxes he knocked over when he past the shoe section.

"S-Sorry for my friend's behavior." Anthony bowed to the clerk as he apologized. The woman merely shot him an annoyed look before spinning on her heel and marched her way back to the register. Anthony quickly followed Khak's trail, pretending like he didn't notice the employee cleaning up the shoe boxes, and found him examining the backpacks. "Why do you need a backpack?" Anthony asked as he walked up.

Khak lifted his current choice up to the light, as if he might be able to see through it. "Dude, I ran away from home with nothing but the clothes on my back and my Pokémon. I need someplace to put all the stuff I need for traveling."

"Oh…" Anthony looked down at his feet. He could never imagine running away from his home. Back in Accumala town, everyone seemed to know everyone and everyone was always so friendly. This was actually the first time he had even gone farther into Unova than Nacrene City. That's when he remembered the whole reason he had winded up here in the first place. He needed to pick up some medicine from White Forest.

Before he could ask Khak anything, a backpack was thrown his way. He caught it and noticed Khak was smiling at him again. "It looks perfect for you."

"What?" Anthony looked at the backpack questionably. It was black with a dark blue Pokéball embroidered on the front. Wasn't it just a backpack? How could it look nice?

"The backpack, it just sorta fits you." Khak slung an orange and white backpack over his own shoulder. "I noticed you didn't have one so why don't we both get one?"

Anthony hadn't really needed a backpack. He was rather good at dodging other trainers that were itching for battles and usually kept out of the tall grass. Besides, he managed to reach a Pokécenter every night so he never really slept outside either. "But,"

"No buts!" Khak interrupted Anthony with a hand over his mouth. "I'm going to buy you something, so it might as well be something you can use."

Anthony sighed and gracefully accepted defeat. As they walked towards the registers, Anthony remembered to bring up White Forest. "You know, if you really want to apologize to me, you could help me out with something."

Khak raised an eyebrow and looked Anthony up and down. "Sorry dude, you're not ugly, but I just don't swing that way."

Heat rose to Anthony's cheeks as he realized Khak had taken his request the wrong way. "Not like that!" Anthony chewed the inside of his cheeks for a moment, trying to get over the embarrassment before going on. "What I meant was I'm looking for White Forest. I'm supposed to pick up some medicine from there."

"Oh, that place." Khak laughed. "Yeah that place is a little strange to get to, but I know the way. I'll show you later."

Anthony sighed happily. Now he could finally get the medicine and head home.

At the register, a certain jacket caught Anthony's eyes. It was hanging just behind the cashier. It was a light, fall jacket, the same color as the backpack Khak was buying for him; black with dark blue stitching. Unfortunately, Khak noticed his friend's interest in the jacket.

"And your total comes to,"

"Hang on," Khak interrupted the cashier. He dashed around the counter and picked up one of the jackets from the rack. Before Anthony realized what he was doing, Khak was already holding it up to him. "Perfect size!" Khak turned to the cashier and handed her the jacket, "We'll take this as well."

"Khak, I don't," Anthony started.

"I think you do," Khak interrupted while handing the cashier his father's card. "White Forest can be pretty windy this time of year."

Anthony hung his head. There would be no winning with this guy. After the cashier handed the card back, Khak shoved the jacket into Anthony's hands, like if he didn't put it on soon it would disappear. Anthony slid the jacket on over his black tee. He had to admit, it fit like a glove and he could already feel himself warming up.

"Perfect." Khak shoved the clothes he had bought into his own backpack, which looked like it was still practically empty even after being stuffed full of clothes, and picked up Anthony's. "Now to the Pokécenter to buy some supplies!"

"Wait, what?" Anthony took after the older boy as he exited the store.

"Well you can't just leave a city or town without any potions or repels." Khak said like it was common knowledge. "That's basically suicide run if all your Pokémon faint."

Anthony felt of twinge of guilt. After all, he had done plenty of these suicide runs, solely relying on luck to get him to the next town without having to battle. At the front doors of the Pokécenter, Khak spun around and put a hand up. "Okay, that's as far as you go Mr."

Anthony raised an eyebrow, "Huh?"

"It was difficult enough to buy you that jacket and backpack," Khak stated. "If you see what I'm going to buy here, it'll take us hours and it'll just be that much longer to get to White Forest."

Anthony blinked, looking at Khak slightly surprised. This boy had managed to turn his own situation against him. Anthony sighed, "Fine, just hurry up."

"Be out in a sec!" Khak spun again and jumped into the Pokécenter.

Deciding there was nothing better to do, Anthony took up residence on a nearby bench and slumped his shoulders. There weren't as many thugs walking around today, in fact most of the people who walked by look like normal, friendly trainers.

After five minutes, Anthony grew impatient and called out his Liepard. Fluffy immediately looked around for danger and Anthony had to calm the Pokémon down. He explained the situation while scratching Fluffy behind the ears. "…so now I'm here just waiting for him to come back."

Fluffy purred, his head in Anthony's lap. Anthony laughed slightly at his Pokémon. "You just don't have a care in the world right now, do you?"

"Lie…" Fluffy sighed happily.

About a minute later, the doors to the Pokécenter slid open. "I'm back!" Khak announced to the world. He handed the backpack to Anthony before petting Fluffy's head gently. "I remember you. Fluffy right?" Khak laughed slightly.

"What's so funny?"

"Who name's their Pokémon Fluffy?"

Anthony frowned. "I was a kid when I caught him, okay? Besides, you named your Scraggy Friend."

"Yeah, I did." Anthony laughed slightly.

Suddenly, Fluffy growled. The two boys looked down and saw he was glaring down the street. Anthony followed Fluffy's gaze and saw the store clerk from earlier walking towards them, three large and rugged looking men stood walked behind her. When the clerk pointed towards himself and Khak, Anthony knew it was too much to hope she was simply giving directions to the Pokécenter.

"I think we should go," Anthony said quickly.

"Ditto." Khak didn't bother trying to look inconspicuous, he just charged full speed down the street. Anthony and Fluffy quickly followed. The three men's cries for them to stop fell on deaf ears.

"Which way to White Forest?" Anthony panted.

"What?" Khak looked back at him like he was crazy. "Are you still on that?" Before Anthony could make a remark, a rather large Mightyena jumped in front of them, baring the path. "This way!" Khak jumped into the nearest back alley, dodging the Mightyena's Bite attack.

"Fake out!" Anthony ordered as he dove into the alley as well.

Fluffy swiped at the Mightyena with his claws, but intently missed. Instead, Fluffy knocked the dog's front legs out from underneath it. The Mightyena yelped in surprise as it tumbled to the ground.

Anthony turned the next corner, following Khak, only to come face to face with a Gallade. He was about to order another attack from Fluffy, but the Pokémon was still too far down the alley. The Gallade glowed purple for a moment and the next thing Anthony knew, he was sitting on a fire escape about three stories above the ground. Khak was next to him, holding a finger to his lips to signal for Anthony to be quiet.

Fluffy turned the corner and then hissed at the Gallade, assuming it was an enemy. Gallade pointed upwards and Fluffy looked up to spot his trainer. Khak held up a Pokéball and recalled the Gallade. Anthony did the same with Fluffy, realizing that the three men were coming.

Quickly, the three men ran by, led by three Mightyena. The trash must have been messing with their noses, because they ran right by without even pausing. Anthony sighed, "Why is it that I've been chased whenever I'm with you?"

Khak laughed nervously. "I think that may be my fault," he admitted. "My dad had a lot of enemies as well. Using his card must have tipped them off."

Anthony sighed again. "Well they're gone now. Let's get to White Forest before they find us again."

Quickly, the two boys climbed down the fire escape. Khak motioned for Anthony to follow him at the bottom and led the boy down several more back alleys. It was slow, considering they checked corners every time they came to crossways, but eventually they reached the city limits.

"We just have to pass through the gate and we're out." Khak explained as he stepped out onto the main street.

Anthony looked at the gate and his heart leapt into his throat. Two of the men from earlier were standing there, inspecting anyone that tried to use the gate. The third was talking into an Xtranseiver nearby. "Wait!" Anthony hissed, dragging Khak back into the alley.

"What now?"

"They're at the gate," Anthony pointed towards them. "Didn't you see them?"

Khak peeked his head around the corner and spotted them this time. "Oh, so they are." He smiled at Anthony. "Good catch. But how are we going to get by? If we start a battle in the middle of a crowded area we might hurt someone. Then we'd have the police all over our asses."

Anthony held his head in his hand, apparently thinking. "I…might have a way. But it's risky."

"What?"

Anthony pulled a Pokéball out of his pocket and looked at it for a moment. "Okay, come on out Illu."

Khak watched as an Oshawott appeared in front of the two boys. But something was a bit off about it. It noticed Khak and let out a tiny yelp of surprise before going to hide behind its trainer. "How's an Oshawott gonna help us?"

"It's not an Oshawott." Anthony replied. Khak shot him a quizzical look as Anthony knelt down to his Pokémon. "Illu, can you drop the Illusion please?"

Illu looked at its trainer, then Khak, and then the ground. After a moment, the blue and white gave way to black and red. A Zorua stood behind Anthony now.

Khak's eyes lit up. "A Zorua!?" Zorua flinched and ducked out of view again. "Where'd you catch it? Those things are rare man!"

"He's not a thing." Anthony glared at Khak while he gently pushed Illu out of hiding. Illu, now forced into the open, jumped up and landed in Anthony's arms. "And I found it abandoned back home." Before Khak could ask any more questions, Anthony spoke to his Zorua, "Illu, do you think you could help us?"

Illu looked up, eyes wide and curious as if to ask what Anthony meant.

"You see, there are these men that are looking for us." Anthony explained. "Khak and I need to get past them, but they'd recognize us if they saw us. Can you extend your illusion to cover us as well? It would only be for a moment."

Illu looked warily at Khak, as if sizing up the boy. After a few moments, Illu nodded.

"Great." Anthony looked to Khak, "We'll have to go quick. Zorua usually can't control their illusions over anything other than themselves until they evolve. At best we'll probably have thirty seconds."

Khak chewed his lip before letting the subject about the Zorua drop. "Alright. I have a back-up plan just in case it doesn't work then."

"What kind of back-up plan?"

Khak grinned, "I'll let you know when I have to use it."

Anthony sighed and looked down to Illu. "You'll need to start the illusion the moment we step out of the alley. Just keep it up for as long as you can. Don't overwork yourself, okay?"

Illu nodded quickly and without another word, Anthony started out of the alley. Khak quickly followed, and by the time they were on the main road, the two boys were stepping in sync.

The world shimmered for a moment. Khak looked over himself, a bit surprised. His normally darker skin was a pasty white now, almost a sickening color. He had longer hair that reached his shoulder now, and a rather large gut was protruding from an orange tee that looked too small. "Dude, why'd he make me fat?" Khak asked.

Illu had become an Oshawott again while Anthony was now a short girl with long brown hair. He almost laughed at the childish clothes Anthony was wearing. "He couldn't help it." Anthony hissed, "The first thing he sees is what he bases his illusions on."

Khak looked around quickly, but was unable to spot the man and girl that Illu had used as reference. He gave up, remembering there was a time limit to this illusion. He and Anthony had already reached the gate.

One of the large men looked Anthony up and down and smiled. "And where might you be headed?"

Anthony opened his mouth, but then turned away and pretended to be embarrassed. Now that he was facing Khak, Anthony mouthed, 'You talk.'

"Um, we were just going for a walk!" Khak said quickly. The man looked Khak up and down, as if thinking that a walk is one of the last things Khak would do.

"Well why don't you go on a walk with us instead?" Another one of the men moved in, trying to put his moves on Anthony. "We're much better company than this man will ever be." He reached for Anthony, but the boy quickly dodged out of the way.

"She's just shy!" Khak said quickly. Their thirty seconds were almost up. "We just want to go out for a quick walk. If you'll excuse us," Khak looped his arm through Anthony's, trying to add to the allusion.

"No!" Anthony shouted. But it was too late. The moment Khak and Anthony made contact, their images faded and returned to normal.

"It's them!" One of the guards must have been named Captain Obvious.

"Plan B!" Khak tightened his grip on Anthony's arm and pulled the younger boy with him, weaving through the people and Pokémon that crowded the road.

"This is your plan B?" Anthony panted. "Running!?"

"I didn't think we'd need more than thirty seconds!" Khak shouted back as they ran out onto Route 15. Behind the two boys the three men had just immerged from the gate as well, their Mightyena following close behind. Khak led the way as the charged up a set of stairs.

"That wasn't thirty seconds," Anthony protested. "Zorua and Zoroark's illusion breaks whenever they come into physical contact with another being."

Khak rubbed the back of his head as they ran across the first of two bridges. "Sorry but I -DUCK!" Khak stopped running and instead tackled Anthony to the ground. They rolled into a chain-link fence, which was the only thing that prevented them from tumbling over a steep cliff, as a Mightyena flew through the spot Anthony had only been a moment before. It growled at them, the fur on its back sticking straight up. Behind the Mightyena was a large lab that Khak had always seen whenever he went out.

Khak shot to his feet, ready to fight. Anthony on the other hand held his head in a hand while Illu looked up worriedly at its trainer. It didn't even take half a minute for the other Mightyena and their burly trainers to catch up.

"Finally," the largest of the trio smiled. "Now, we have some questions to ask you boys."

Khak rolled his Gallade's Pokéball in his hand with a smirk on his face. "I don't think we'll be staying around for long." Khak tossed the ball into the air and Gallade appeared a second later. "Gallade, use Telepo-"

"Roar!"

The center Mightyena rushed up to Gallade and let loose a powerful roar from the back of its throat. Khak and Gallade both flinched, it was like a million fingers being dragged across a blackboard. A red light shot from the ball in Khak's hand and Gallade disappeared. Another ball shot out of Khak's pocket and a Luxray appeared on the pavement.

"Hey!" Khak scowled at the three men.

They laughed and the biggest one spoke up, "What did you think we were gonna do boy, let you just teleport away? Now," he cracked his knuckles, "why don't you tell us where we can find your father?"

Khak ignored him, "Fight, Wild Charge!"

The Luxray gave a battle cry before becoming cloaked in electricity. It charged for the Mightyena, managing to crash into one of them and knocking it into its trainer. Khak turned to Anthony and helped the still dazed boy to his feet while Illu barked as loud as it could at a Mightyena who tried to get close. "Think you can help me out here?" Khak pleaded.

"Yeah," Anthony still looked a little wobbly but managed to stabilize himself. When he saw the blood, Khak felt a twinge of guilt as he realized it was probably his fault that Anthony had a head injury. "Come on out Hope!" Anthony yelled as an Oshawott appeared next to Illu on the pavement.

"Why'd you bring out another Pokémon?" Khak shot Anthony a questioning look.

"It's a three-on-three, isn't it?" Anthony looked at the Mightyena through squinted eyes, trying to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"Ohhh," Khak almost laughed. Maybe he was the one with the head injury.

"Enough talking!" The large man yelled. "Mightyena, Take Down!" As the Mightyena charged forward, the other two thugs ordered the same attack.

Anthony was first to make a move, "Illu, Foul Play!"

The small Zorua charged forward to meet the first Mightyena. Illu leapt into the air and landed on the larger Pokémon's back. From there it proceeded to nip at the Mightyena's neck. Mightyena rolled over in an attempt to knock the pest off of its back. Illu leapt off and, the moment it touched ground, spun around to ram itself into the Mightyena's side. Mightyena yelped as it flew across the pavement and disappeared over the edge of the cliff face.

"Mightyena!" The large man cried, running towards the cliff.

Khak whistled. "That little sucker is strong!"

Illu smiled at him, rather pleased with itself.

"Scrag!"

Khak's attention was drawn back to the battle when the remaining Mightyena both decided to charge into Friend. "Hey! I wasn't ready!" Khak protested.

"That's what you get for letting your guard down!" The man on the left growled.

Khak bit the inside of his cheek irritably. "Friend, Break Brick!"

Anthony joined in, "Hope use Water Gun!"

As the two Pokémon carried out their attacks, Khak grabbed Anthony and dragged him away. "We only need to break through! I don't have time to waste!" When the Mightyena were done being assaulted, Khak waved a hand at the Pokémon from across the bridge. "This way!"

"Where do you think you're going!?" The leader roared.

"Faster!" Khak yelled. The two remaining Mightyena were already on their tails. Illu was the first to catch up, hopping safely into the hood of Anthony's jacket. Friend was a fast runner and managed reach the two boys in a matter of seconds while still holding up its baggy skin. Hope however was still only halfway across the bridge when one of the Mightyena caught up.

"Hope!" Anthony shouted a warning call.

Hope turned its head and squealed before the Mightyena clamped its jaws around the Oshawott's small body and tossed Hope high into the air. At the peak of its areal trip, an anger mark appeared on Hope's head. "Osha!" It cried angrily before righting itself in the air. Hope ripped the shell off of its chest and threw it at the Mightyena.

Not expecting the attack, Mightyena saw it only a second before it hit. The shell carved into the Mightyena's body before flying back towards Hope.

"Wasn't that Razor Shell?" Khak asked.

Anthony nodded, "That means Hope will,"

Hope's body was already glowing white when it had caught the shell. All features were lost as the glowing white Pokémon landed on the bridge in front of the two boys. A second later, the glow faded and a larger Pokémon stood there, two shells now in its hands as it struck a pose. "Dewott!"

"You evolved!" Anthony exclaimed joyfully, picking up his Pokémon and hugging it joyfully. "That's great!"

"Zorua!" Illu barked in agreement.

"Celebrate later!" Khak yelled, already halfway down the next set of stairs. When Anthony saw that the Mightyena were still coming, he had no qualms and ran after the older boy.

Khak was waiting for him in front of the gate leading to the Marvelous Bridge. He was panting almost as hard as Friend was, sweat staining his shirt. Anthony was sure he looked just as exhausted. This was more excitement than he'd ever had in his whole life.

He didn't say anything as he ran inside, knowing that Anthony would follow. Ahead, Anthony saw that there was a line of at least fifteen people waiting to use the elevator. Khak cursed, "We don't have time to wait for the elevator."

"There!" Anthony pointed ahead towards a door labeled 'Emergency Fire Escape.'

"That works!" Khak recalled Friend, deciding it would be easier to keep speed without having to worry about tripping over him. Anthony did the same as Khak collided with the door, practically knocking it off its hinges. Alarms and bells went off like crazy, wailing in high-pitch screams that drowned out all other noise. Anthony was right, as there was a staircase leading up. The two began to climb it, and only one flight up the door was slammed open again, this time by their chasers.

Anthony continued to climb, ignoring how his leg muscles were screaming in protest. They pushed past several other people who must have been making their way down from the bridge itself. They managed to keep the distance between themselves and the chasers all the way to the top floor.

Khak forced the door open and a salty breeze met them. They were on the bridge, which was now cleared thanks to the fire alarm. Anthony's ears were still ringing from all the sounds that had bombarded him brain only moment ago. But still they kept running.

"Stop!"

Khak and Anthony looked back just as the third man emerged from the fire escape. "Not a chance in hell!" Khak called back. Anthony couldn't offer any sort of trash talk himself, as he was too busy panting for breath.

A fog horn went off, and Anthony noticed a large ship was passing by beneath the bridge. He raised an eyebrow at it. It was way too early for the Royal Unova to leave port.

"Right on time!" Khak yelled happily.

"What?" Anthony was very confused right now.

Khak ran over to the edge and looked down. Anthony knew this was no time to go sightseeing, but decided to join him. Below, the ship had just started to come into view. Anthony turned back to check on their pursuers, only to find they had already surrounded the two boys again. "Um, Khak…"

"Hm?" Khak turned around and saw the men as well. He sighed and placed his hand on his cheeks, trying to look as flustered as possible. "Oh no!" he cried in a high pitched voice, "You've cornered us! Whatever shall we do?"

The big guy obviously didn't get sarcasm. A smile spread across his face. "That's right." He spoke between pants. "And if you don't tell us where your dad is, we'll have to kill you."

Khak sighed. "Oh no, that's horrible, you wicked men." His voice was flat and bored.

Anthony shot him a crazy look. These men were threatening to kill them and Khak was just joking with them? What the hell did he have planned? Khak slipped a card out of his pocket and held it between his hands. "What you really want is my dad's cash, right?"

The leaders eyes lit up. "Yeah! Now if you just hand that over,"

"Sorry!" Khak interrupted and placed the card back in his pocket. "I don't have much cash myself, so I'm gonna need to dip into daddy's funds. I'm afraid I can't give it to you." Khak turned around and leapt up onto the railing.

"Khak!" Anthony grabbed his friend's leg. Was he going to jump!?

"H-Hey!" The leader backed up a step, afraid to send the boy over the edge. "If you're gonna kill yourself, we'll just torture your friend here for information about your dad!"

"What?" Anthony exclaimed. Just how far are these guys willing to go?

Khak placed a finger on his chin and pretended to look like he was thinking. "Well we can't have that." Khak leaned down and used his brutish strength to pick up Anthony and place the younger boy next to himself. "So we're just both going to have to jump!" Khak smiled like he had just said a funny joke.

"WHAT!?" Anthony and the men examined at the same time.

"Laters!" Khak leapt off the bridge, dragging Anthony down with him.

Within seconds, the only thing Anthony could hear was the wind rushing past his ears. As they fell, Anthony saw that Khak was laughing like the madman he was. The large cruise liner was getting closer ever second, and Anthony almost passed out. This was it. He was going to die today.

After Anthony managed to dodge a flock of Ducklett and Swanna (he didn't want the last thing he tasted to be a mouthful of feathers) he saw Khak pull a Pokéball out of his pocket. Anthony's spirit soared. Maybe he had a bird Pokémon large enough to carry both of them. But as Gallade appeared, Anthony's spirit fell faster than his own body.

Khak mouthed something, and the Gallade nodded. Putting its hands together, Gallade started to glow. A few seconds later, a large purple box shot out of the Pokémon and surrounded the two boys. Anthony and Khak suddenly stopped falling, now floating inside the box.

Anthony opened his mouth to say something, but his mouth was moving slower than is mind. "What?"

"Trick," Khak also seemed to be slowed down, "Room." He finished.

The box disappeared, but the two boys and Gallade continued to fall, but at a very slow pace. It was like they were crawling through the air. As they neared the boat, Anthony noticed a large group of people had gathered below them. Most likely because someone had spotted two kids had jumped off the Marvelous Bridge. It was strange watching the boat pass by quickly, but they themselves were falling slowly.

"Brace yourself." Khak said, his voice was quicker now. They were falling a bit faster this time.

Anthony looked to the back of the ship, where he guessed they would be landing. Right now there was a single occupant. It looked to be a boy of Khak's age with strange, blue hair. A Roselia stood on his shoulder and the two were facing the Marvelous Bridge, apparently ignorant of the two boys about to hit them. "I think they got the name wrong, Elizabeth." The blue-haired boy spoke to his Roselia. "They should have called it the Fabulous Bridge instead!"

Anthony was about to call out and tell him to move, but the effects of Trick Room wore off the next second. The two crash-landed right on top of the trainer and Roselia.

"Ah!" The boy yelled from underneath Khak and Anthony. Gallade had landed a bit more gracefully nearby. It managed to catch the Roselia before the flower Pokémon rolled off the ship. Anthony and Khak rolled off the blue-haired boy and he stood up quickly, brushing off his fancy looking clothes. "You ruffians!" He screamed. "You got your shoe prints on my clothes! Just where did you come from? Did you leap off the Marvelous Bridge?"

Khak laughed, "Well actually…"

"Hey, boys!"

Before any of the three had a chance to say another word, a large crowd of people came rushing towards them. In front ran an older man with a greying beard. Based on his sailors cap and uniform, Anthony guessed he was the captain of the ship.

"Are you two alright?" The captain asked. "You gave us all heart attacks when I spotted you two falling from the bridge."

"Ah, that was my fault." Khak stood quickly and bowed to the captain. "Sorry about that. We're fine by the way."

The captain left out a relieved sighed. "Well that's fine and all, but this is an internationally sailing ship." He scratched the side of his head as if embarrassed. "So I am going to have to ask you to get off when we make port in Castelia City."

"Ah, about that." Khak swung his backpack off his shoulders and started digging through it. The captain tried to get a peek into Khak's backpack while he was digging, just as curious as Anthony on what he was going to pull out of there.

A minute later Khak yelled victoriously. "Here they are!" The boy pulled two purple tickets and handed them to the captain. "This is the boat sailing to Kanto, right? We have tickets then!"

"Wait," Anthony shot up, "we have what?"

"Oh yeah, I never asked." Khak laughed at Anthony's expression. "Do you wanna come watch the Pokémon League Tournament with me?"

* * *

Kaith: And yes, it's the next chapter! Thanks to the people (or person) who followed this story. I hope you all enjoy and leave me a review!


	3. Chapter 2: Battle City

**Chapter 2: Battle City**

_**Six days earlier**_

* * *

"So that's the basically what happened," Anthony spoke into his Xtransceiver. "Do you think it would be alright for me to go, Dad?" Anthony's heart was beating in his eardrums. 'Basically what happened' was an extreme understatement. He had left out the parts about being chased by the roughnecks and jumping from the Marvelous Bridge, and instead told him that Khak had rescued him from a wild Druddigon and used the tickets for the Pokémon League as an apology. Someone he felt his father wouldn't be too happy to hear the whole story.

Anthony's father stroked his grey beard, deep in thought. Frown lines were permanently etched into his forehead, so it was hard to tell what he was thinking.

Before the old man could get a word out, Khak pushed his way into picture. "Excuse me, sir?" Anthony's father looked up. "Please let me take him, I have no other way to apologize to him. I'm sure that I'll be able to take care of him." Khak dug into his pockets and pulled out three small objects that glistened in the sunlight. "I have taken down three gym leaders after all." Khak boasted while shooting his best look at the Xtransceiver.

Anthony recognized the Bolt Badge, however the other two were foreign to him. Before he could get a better look at them, Khak deposited the badges into his pocket. Anthony's father cracked a slight smiled. "Well I suppose it's the best way for you to see the rest of the world. You may never get a chance like this again. Oh, and don't worry about the medicine, I'll take care of it."

Anthony sighed a sigh of mixed feelings; relief and disappointment. Part of him wanted to go on the trip with Khak, exactly like how his father said. He could travel the Unova region whenever he wanted, when would he get another chance to visit another region like this again? However, the other part of him was thinking logically, refusing to set off on a journey with a complete stranger.

"Just make sure to do one thing." Anthony stiffened at the voice of his father. He looked grim again, but apparently couldn't hold the expression, because he burst into a large grin soon enough. "Make sure to buy your family souvenirs while you're there!"

Anthony half-smiled, a bit sadly. "Yeah, sure dad. Love ya."

Anthony ended the call before his father got the chance to say anything else, embarrassed over the fact of saying 'I love you' to someone in front of Khak. Anthony glanced over at Khak, who had already wandered off. There were so many questions he wanted to ask his travel companion, yet the other boy refused to stay still for longer than three seconds.

When Khak disappeared into the ship, Anthony turned his attention to Castelia City. Resting his elbows on the railing, Anthony's eyes lazily watch the people and cars move hastily through the city. The tall sky scrapers failed to amuse him, in Black City - that was apparently the name of the place he had run into Khak - he had seen enough sky scrapers to last a lifetime. Many people bumped into each other, not even bothering to issue apologies or even acknowledge the person they bumped into. It was like they were each fighting through mindless madness.

After a few minutes, a Pokéball in Anthony's pocket started to shake. Anthony dug into his pocket and pulled out the energetic ball. There was a flash of light and Fluffy appeared on the deck, stretching its limbs.

Anthony knelt down and scratched his Liepard behind the ears. "Sorry about that," he apologized. "So much had happened that I forgot."

Fluffy gave a light flick of its tail and blinked at Anthony, meaning it forgave him. Fluffy was one of those Pokémon that disliked spending long periods of time in it Pokéball, so Anthony made sure to keep Fluffy out whenever it could be.

As Fluffy began to groom itself, Anthony turned back to the city. Immediately, a bright pink caught his color. A girl with long black hair had broken free of the crowded road and was making her way down the pier. Her large pink coat was obviously for winter wear, but it didn't seem to bother her as she gracefully walked closer to the boat. Anthony hadn't even noticed the large Empoleon that had been lumbering behind her until she had reached the boarding plank.

She appeared to be arguing with the crew member who had taken her ticket. The crew member made it obvious that he couldn't let her onto to boat with her Empoleon. Anthony didn't blame the sailor, this Empoleon was the biggest he had ever seen and it looked like it could snap the boat in half if it only felt like putting in some effort. Finally, the girl in the pink coat turned to her Empoleon and gave it a hug before returning it to a Pokéball. However, another Pokémon quickly replaced it. A small Plusle was now taking up residence on the girls shoulder.

Not having any qualms with the small mouse, the crew member led her up the boarding plank. He looked around first though, but the girl raised her hand. That was when Anthony realized she didn't have any luggage, save the small backpack she had slung across her shoulder.

The girl looked at Anthony for a moment before looking away quickly. But in that moment he managed to catch that she had beautiful opal-colored eyes. When they had reached the top of the boarding plank, which was only a few feet from where Anthony was, the crew member turned to the girl. "I'm sorry, but I forgot to ask if you were a participator or spectator."

Pulling a small case out of her backpack, the girl in the pink coat displayed it to the crew member. "Participator," she said in a soft and elegant voice as eight badges sparkled in the sunlight.

Now that she was closer, Anthony had a vague feeling he had seen her somewhere before. The girl glanced at Anthony again before following the crew member in the opposite direction.

Anthony watched her go until he felt Fluffy slap its tail against his side. "Ow!" Anthony held the side of his gut, "What was that for?"

Fluffy wore an expression Anthony had never seen before, but was able to read perfectly. It was one of those knowing looks, like Fluffy was amused with whatever Anthony had been doing. It took him a while, but soon a blush rose to Anthony's cheeks when he realized what he had been doing. "I was not staring at her!" he objected quickly.

Fluffy snickered and Anthony turned away. Despite his outburst only seconds ago, he found that his eyes wandered back to the girl in the pink coat almost immediately. The Plusle on her shoulder stuck its tongue out at him before the girl disappeared farther into the ship. Anthony blinked. What did he do?

* * *

Saimax gently pushed the frying eggs across the pan. The smell wafted through his small apartment, so strong that it would have made him drool. Currently, Saimax had something else occupying his mind.

"What smells so good?"

Saimax turned his attention away from the breakfast he was making. Standing in the doorway was a half-asleep looking Kar, still rubbing sleep out of her eyes. A strand of her unusual orange hair was plastered to her face, stuck to the spot just below her lip. Saimax turned away from Kar, ignoring the fact that she was wearing his clothes – which were obviously too big for her. "Scrambled eggs," he said quickly. "The power came back on."

"Mmm," was all that Kar could muster. She was not an early riser, and proved this by depositing herself into the single chair seated at a small, cluttered table. Almost immediately she started nodding off.

Saimax looked up and out the open window. The sky was filled with different bird Pokémon, most of them Wingulls. But it was the black and red one that had caught his eye, his own Alcard. The Swellow quickly fluttered down the window and took up perch outside. Alcard glanced inside and saw the half-asleep Kar sitting at the kitchens table. Alcard shot its trainer a look that said, _"She's still here?"_

Saimax brandished his spatula at Alcard, trying to shoo the annoying bird off.

After a minute of silence, Saimax realized he was starting to burn the eggs. He hastily shoved them around the pan a bit, hopping he hadn't burned the too badly. "You can use the shower if you want," Saimax spoke to the eggs rather than facing Kar.

"Wha?" Kar blinked sleepily, surprised she was being talked to.

"You can use the shower," Saimax repeated. "It's the second door on the right."

"Oh," Kar yawned. "Thank you."

Saimax could feel her smiling at him, but pretended to be too busy with breakfast. He listened to her footsteps disappear down the hallway, and didn't turn around until he heard the water running. He let out a sigh before turning off the burner.

As Saimax was serving up the eggs, Alcard flew in the open window and took up residence on the cluttered table. The Swellow shook its entire body quickly, sending loose feathers flying into the air.

"Hey!" Saimax waved his spatula at his Pokémon again, "I eat there you know."

Alcard replied with one of his looks. Over the years, Saimax had been able to translate those looks like his Pokémon was actually speaking to him. _"Apparently so does that female."_

"What was I supposed to do?" Saimax frowned at his Pokémon, remembering what had happened the night before.

* * *

_**Yesterday**_

Kar had decided that instead of heading straight for the Pokécenter, she had wanted to explore a few more shops. After all, she did have the time now. Saimax trudged along with her, allowing Kar to use him as a pack mule. The time flew by, and noon had become dusk in what seemed like a few minutes.

As the two finally made their way to the Pokécenter, an explosion rattled through Sunyshore City, and smoke started to rise in the distance. In the diminishing daylight, houses and stores alike had been turning their lights on. But now, not a single light remained on.

"W-What was that?" Kar's eyes were fixed on the smoke rising in the distance.

"Me and my big mouth." Saimax muttered angrily. "Volkner's blown something up again."

"He what?" Kar looked at Saimax with wide eyes. "Shouldn't someone go and make sure he's alright?"

Saimax shrugged. "He's done this before, so he's probably okay. We should try and make it to the Pokécenter first. It's the only place with a backup generator."

Kar looked around, realizing that people were already leaving their homes and flooding the streets. Maybe the gym blowing up was a regular occurrence around here.

Soon, the two were caught up in a wave of people flooding down the street. Kar and Saimax waddled along with the crowd, forced to move at such a slow pace due to the sheer mass of people. However, all progress was brought to a halt just as the Pokécenter came into view. People closest to the front doors were shouting angrily, but their exact words failed to reach Saimax's ears.

"Attention everyone!" A female voice called out over a megaphone. Standing on his toes, Saimax managed to spot one of the nurses standing outside the door, her megaphone projected upwards and over the masses. "I'm terribly sorry," she started out, "but the Pokécenter is currently filled to the max. We simply have no more room!"

More angry shouts filled the air.

The nurse tried yelling again into her megaphone, but there were simply too many voices overpowering her. She looked like she was lost for words, and about to burst into tears. Luckily, an older looking nurse came to her rescue.

The old woman snatched the megaphone and screamed into it. "QUIET!"

Instantly, every single person seemed to freeze over.

The older nurse sighed, "Now, if you're done with this nonsense, there are emergency shelters designated in the case that the Pokécenter cannot hold any more occupants. If you'll follow the officers they will direct you…"

Saimax ignored the nurse as she continued to ramble off instructions. He nudged Kar and motioned for her to follow him. The two pushed their way through the crowd until Saimax managed to reach an unoccupied alley. "I've seen those other shelters," he said when Kar joined him. "You'd get a better night's sleep if you slept on the beach."

"Oh," Kar frowned. "Well so long as everyone else gets a bed tonight, I suppose I could sleep on the beach."

"What?" Saimax said quickly, "Oh, no! That's not what I meant."

Kar tilted her head. "Well what did you mean?"

"Well…" Saimax rubbed the back of his head. "You could, I don't know, spend the night at my place." He ended his sentence by making it sound like a question. "I mean, I do live alone and my bed's a million times better than the ones at the emergency shelters."

A blush rose up the Kar's cheeks and she turned her head away. "I, I don't think that's appropriate. After all, we only just met today."

Now Saimax blushed, realizing now that he probably should have worded his offer differently. "Ah, that's not what I meant either!" He exclaimed quickly, waving his bag filled hands in front of himself. "I meant you could stay the night at my place! Not necessarily in my bed, but I could sleep on the couch if you wanted the bed. That is if you want to even spend the night. Maybe you like uncomfortable cots or…" Saimax tumbled over his words, hoping something he said fixed the mix up.

"Oh…" Kar smiled awkwardly at Saimax. "That's what you meant."

"Swellow!"

Kar and Saimax looked upwards and saw both their flying Pokémon perched on a fire escape. Alcard's look read, _"I'm never going to get any sleep today, am I?"_

"What do you think?" Kar asked her Altaria.

Sratus shook its body, fluffing up its body against the cold, before nodding.

Kar turned to back to Saimax, "Well if Straus thinks it's a good idea, I suppose I will too!" She smiled. "Lead the way!"

* * *

_**Present**_

Once the two had gotten back, Saimax had to dig for the smallest pair of sweats and tee-shirt that he could find for Kar. After all, she had left her luggage on the ship. After a quick argument, Kar gratefully took the bed while Saimax had slept on the couch.

Saimax shooed Alcard off the table, ignoring how his ill-tempered bird tried to peck at his hands. Alcard instead took up residence on the top of the refrigerator, huddling up with the dust bunnies. Right now, Alcard didn't have a nest to sleep in. Sratus was a lot like Alcard and didn't like sleeping in its Pokéball, so Saimax had kindly offered up Alcard's nest in the bedroom.

Saimax took a forkful of eggs, ignoring the burnt taste, it wasn't half bad. As he chewed, the young man looked around the kitchen self-consciously. The whole apartment was littered with trash; that cluster of old magazines under his sofa, the unwashed dishes in the sink, and the clothes that were shoved into the various corners. Saimax stood up and quickly began to straighten up a few things.

"Oh, please don't clean up on my account."

Saimax almost dropped the plate he was trying to fit into the sink. Kar was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, redressed in her sundress from yesterday. Her hair was still damp from the shower. "The mess kind of reminds me of my brother." Kar smiled as she took the seat at the table.

"You have a brother?" asked Saimax, pushing a rotting apple into the trash when Kar was too busy eating her plate of eggs. "Is that who all the souvenirs are for?"

Kar nodded. "He asked me to buy a few, but," Kar giggled slightly, "as you saw, I went a little overboard."

Saimax shot a look at the pile of plastic bags that had piled up near the front door. If he didn't know better, he would have sworn that they had reproduced last night.

"I was trying to get him something memorable for when he becomes the champion."

Saimax raised an eyebrow. "The champion?"

"Oh, I suppose I never told you." Kar tilted her head, thinking back to their meeting yesterday. "I have an older brother who managed to get all the gym badges back in Hoenn. When he got an invite to the tournament this year, he sent me tickets to come and watch him."

"So this mess reminds you of him?"

Kar giggled. "He was actually messier than you. I always had to pick up after him." Kar took another forkful of eggs. "Our parents always hoped he would get better at cleaning up after himself, but even at twenty he's still a bit of a slob."

Saimax blinked and felt his heart drop. If she was the younger sister, and her brother was only twenty, how old was she herself? Kar looked pretty young, and it hadn't even occurred to him that she might be a minor. He could already see the headlines; _Perverted Twenty-One Year Old Takes Advantage of Minor during Blackout._

"How old are you?"

Saimax wanted to throw himself out the window right then and there. Who the hell asks a woman they just met her age? If he had learned anything from his mother it had been to never ask a woman her age, especially on her birthday.

"Oh, I'm nineteen." Kar said taking another forkful of eggs and finishing the plate.

Saimax closed his eyes sighed a sigh of relief. He had lucked out. She wasn't a minor and didn't care about telling others her age.

When the water in the sink came on, Saimax opened his eyes again. Kar was at the sink with a sponge in hand. Saimax assumed she was looking for the soap, which currently didn't exist in his apartment. "You don't have to wash your plate," Saimax stepped over and turned the water off.

Kar turned it back on, frowning at him. "But you've already taken such good care of me. I feel guilty not cleaning up after myself."

Saimax ran a hand through his light brown hair, sighing. She had the most natural Lillipup eyes he had ever seen. "Fine." He caved in, but then added, "Only your plate though."

"Okay," Kar said cheerfully. "But I don't know, I might just accidentally get soap and water on the rest of these dishes and they'll magically become clean."

* * *

The salty sea breeze sprayed against Sean's face and the extra cloth of his headband whipped back and forth in the wind. In the distance, the skyscrapers of Castelia City were quickly growing out of the ground. A large grin crept its way across his face as he felt the two extra Pokéballs rattle around in his pocket.

The moment Sean had gotten out of Aspertia City he immediately set out looking for more partners. Together, he and Bacon had managed to take down and capture a Pidove almost the moment he set foot outside the gate. He had named it Quil because the Pidove had started the fight with a half dozen molted bird feathers to Sean's face.

Daydreams of the upcoming tournament and catching Pokémon filled his head until a Wingull had crashed into his face.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Sean cried while holding his nose and rolling around on the deck.

From the captain's room an old voice called out, "Hey Sean, you alright?"

Sean sat straight up, still holding his nose. "Of course I'm not! I just took a Wingull to the face at a gajillion miles an hours!" Tears were forming in his eyes as Sean touched his face repeatedly, checking for blood. When he was relieved to find he wasn't bleeding, Sean turned an angry glare towards the back of the boat. The Wingull that had hit him was staggering to its feet and attempting to leap up onto the railing.

"Hey you!" Sean scrambled to his feet, "Get back here!"

The small bird squawked with fear and fluttered up to the railing. The way Sean was eyeing the bird, Wingull thought it was going to be served up with a side of butter. Only a few feet away, Sean jumped at Wingull, his hands outstretched for it. Luckily, the small bird had managed to take off just in time.

Sean groped at thin air as an angry mark appeared on his head. "You're not so lucky!" Sean's hand flew into his pocket and pulled out his newest partner. "Go Sparky!" After a flash of light, a small yellow bug-type Pokémon had appeared on the railing; a Joltik.

Sean pointed dramatically at the fleeing Wingull, "Fry that thing with an Electro Web!"

"Jol!" Sparky shot a small web into the air which immediately began sizzling with electricity. After several feet of flying in the air, the electricity went out and the net fell into the ocean, missing the Wingull by a long shot.

Sean frowned, "Outta range…" he muttered.

"Jol…" The small Pokémon had turned it's sad eyes at Sean, disappointed as well.

"It's alright Sparky," Sean comforted his Pokémon. "It was outta range, that's all." Extending a hand, Sean allowed his partner to crawl up his arm and rustle around in his red hair. He felt a small jolt of electricity as Sparky accidentally discharged and felt his hair stand straight up.

Laughter came from the open door of the captain's cabin, "You look like one of those cartoon characters in the shows that my daughter watches!" The captain called out cheerfully.

Sean quickly made his way inside and shut the door behind himself. "I know," Sean said as he was examining his reflection in the glass window, "But I kinda like it." He smiled at looked beyond his reflection. Castelia City had tripled in size now, and he could make out most of the boats that were docked at the port. Guessing by how fast they were coming up, Sean guessed it would only be another ten minutes. "Thanks again for bringing me out here old man. I don't know how else I would have made the boat in time."

"I should be thanking you!" The old captain replied cheerfully. "If you hadn't helped me find that darned Joltik that was messing up my engine, I would have never sailed again." He glanced over at Sparky, who had just crawled down to Sean's shoulder, with an amused look. "Who knew that something so cute could be so dang annoying?"

Sean half frowned and took up residence in an empty seat. "He's not cute, he's awesome. And someday he's gonna help me beat even the champion."

"You know, funny story there," The captain started. "I actually ferried the champion to Castile City almost fifteen years ago. It was right after I had tried my hand at being a movie star…"

As the captain rattled on, Sean pulled the two tickets for the Pokémon League Tournament out of his pocket. Bel had said to bring his grandma along with him, but he had other plans. _Sorry Gran, sorry Bel, but I'm going to prove to you that I'm big enough to start my journey. The Champion beat Iris when he was only sixteen? Then I'll make sure to beat him at the tournament!_

* * *

Clegs scrunched up his face in disgust and immediately spit the vile tasting thing out of his mouth. "Dear Arceus," he wiped some of the white cream from the corner of his mouth, "how do girls swallow this stuff?" He turned to his right, "Do you want it Rocky?"

"Loom!" A Breloom cried happily and nodded.

"Have fun." Clegs handed the Casteliacone to his Breloom, who made quick work of the ice cream. From his bench on the pier, Clegs watched a small boat began preparations to dock. Clegs stood up and stretched, ignoring the several people that quickly glanced his way.

"We should head back to the boat." Clegs stated, "We still have an hour before it takes off but," he turned a wary eye up towards the road he would have to walk along, busy with traffic, "better to be early than miss the party entirely." Breloom nodded and let its trainer return it to its Pokéball peacefully.

"Thanks again old man!"

Clegs ignored the voices he heard from behind him and began to walk away.

"No problem, have fun Sean!"

A set of footsteps quickly became louder as this Sean began running up the pier. Clegs had expected him to just run by, but the footsteps died out right behind him.

"Hold it!"

Clegs sighed and turned around, "What?"

Standing before him now, at only half his towering size, was a small kid. Clegs had to hold back the urge to laugh at how his red hair was standing straight up and the worn piece of cloth wrapped around his head. The little kid looked like a ninja from Saturday morning cartoons. A Joltik crawled out of the kid's hair and down to his shoulder, giving Clegs a look just as dirty as its trainer.

"Can I help you?" A small smile crept across Clegs face, "Let me save you the trouble, Sasuke is training down in the sewers."

"You look suspicious," Sean apparently didn't get Clegs joke.

"Me?" Clegs looked himself over. Sure, a trench coat and bandana did make him look like the most suspicious person since Team Rocket, but that didn't mean he should be stopped by little kids. Clegs smile got wider, "Ah dang, you caught me. And here I was, about to steal everyone's Pokémon."

"I knew it!" Sean snapped, pulling two Pokéballs out of his pocket. "Get ready, because you're going down!"

"Oh no, I'm so frightened." Clegs voice was laced with sarcasm that just seemed to go right over Sean's head.

"Bacon, Quil, take him out!" Sean threw his Pokéballs, and his Tepig and Pidove appeared on either side of him. "Three on three!" Sean ordered.

"I'm afraid I only have one," Clegs lied through his teeth, "but I'll still take on all of your Pokémon."

As Clegs sent Rocky back out, Sean laughed. "Don't act so cool, you're taking on the future champion!" Pointing at the Breloom, he ordered, "Bacon, use Ember! Sparky, Electro Web! Quil, hit him with a Gust!"

"Mach Punch," Clegs spoke in a level voice.

Before any of Sean's three Pokémon had a chance to even start their attack, Rocky appeared before Quil and delivered a swift blow to the small bird. Quil was shot backwards across the pier and rolled into the water.

"Quil!" Sean turned to his Pokémon, who had just flown back up onto the pier, looking more ready than anything.

Clegs raised an eye. That Pidove couldn't have been very strong, and by the looks of it, newly caught. Yet it managed to survive a Mach Punch from his Breloom.

Rocky danced around the attacks sent its way, managing to dodge each round. It waited for Clegs to give another order, but the tall man just stood there, observing Sean. The kid was obviously a beginner, as he seemed to fire off orders faster than his Pokémon could deal them out. He also stuck to only using damage inducing attacks, completely oblivious to Rocky's ability, which had already poisoned his Tepig and paralyzed the Joltik.

Despite this, Clegs found something intriguing about the little runt. "Stop," Clegs ordered. All Pokémon, even Sean, obeyed his order. "It should be obvious to even you that this battle is lost. Can you tell me why?"

Sean knitted his brow, examining his Pokémon. The fact that his Pidove was quickly falling asleep should have been a big hint. "Breloom has the Effect Spore ability," Sean half-mumbled, "none of my attacks were hitting, and you hadn't even ordered an attack beyond that first Mach Punch."

Clegs half-smiled and recalled his Pokémon. This runt was pretty good at reading a battle. Sean did the same with his Pokémon, and Clegs turned to walk away. However, Sean had other plans. "Hey mister, wait up!"

Clegs kept walking, but slowed his pace so Sean could catch up. "What do you think I should have done in that battle?" Sean asked.

"Well," Clegs tilted his head, "what kind of moves do your Pokémon know, besides the ones you used in our battle?"

Sean made a face like he had just smelled something foul. "Um…oh! Hang on," Sean pulled a small, red electronic out of his pocket.

Clegs raised an eyebrow in surprise, recognizing a Pokedex. _This kid is an assistant to a professor? _

Sean showed him the data displayed on the little screen, and Clegs carefully read it. "Well right off the bat, you should have been able to tell that my Breloom was much stronger, right?" Sean nodded. Clegs continued, "So your best bet would have been to paralyze my Pokémon with your Joltik's Thunder Wave. It's a basic tactic, to cut your opponents speed that is, so you'd best remember it."

"R-Right, I knew that." Sean claimed, but he seemed to be typing something into his Pokédex, almost like he was taking notes.

Clegs had to stop himself from smiling at kid before continuing. "After that you should have had your Joltik lower my Pokémon's defenses with Screech, then focused on hitting Rocky with moves that had a type advantage."

Sean looked up, a happy look on his face like he had just thought of something clever. "You mean like Bacon's Flame Charge, or Quil's Air Cutter?"

Clegs nodded, "Using that strategy you might have had a chance."

Sean ran in front of Clegs, cutting his path off, still wearing that happy expression. "Then how about another battle?" He asked excitedly. The two had reached the main road now, just standing a few feet away from the busy intersection.

"Don't you think you should get your Pokémon to the Pokécenter first?"

Sean's expression seemed to slump off his face. "Oh yeah, I guess I should."

Finally ready to be rid of the kid, Clegs turned towards the pier where the boat was waiting. A hand on his shoulder put a quick stop to that plan. Annoyed, Clegs turned to find the hand belonged to a rather old looking man. He was wearing a janitor's outfit, and a Trubbish waddled happily around his feet.

"That was some battle you two had back there!" He exclaimed. A quick look beyond the old man told Clegs that he had also stopped Sean from running off to the Pokécenter. "How about testing your skills at the Battle Company? If you can help the people there with their research, they may just give you the item they were studying!"

Sean's happy look was back. "That sounds awesome! But I have to heal my Pokémon first."

"No problem! There's a machine at the company you can use. Let's go then!" Without a choice, Clegs was pulled across the street by the two over-energetic souls. He sighed and glanced at his watch. There was still a good amount of time before the boat left. How much harm could a little battling do?

* * *

"I'M LATE!" Clegs and Sean shouted, charging out of the front doors of the Battle Company.

"Thank you, come again!" The janitor shouted after them, who had in fact turned out to be the president.

Clegs ignored him as he charged down sidewalk. Just around the bend, he could see the Royal Anne was just starting to move. _How could I be so stupid!? _Clegs scolded himself. He had just been so into the battles that he had lost track of time. After fighting one rather strong trainer, they had chatted away about different strategies until Clegs caught sight of the clock. If he could make it to the pier fast enough, he could just use his Skarmory to fly him onto the deck.

"That was fun, wasn't it?" Sean panted from above.

Clegs looked up, much like the people around him, and was surprised to find Sean was using lamp posts and other objects as his sidewalk, jumping to the next object with ease. He was currently trying to stuff berries, enough to feed at least two Snorlax, into his backpack. The sight reminded Clegs of the Focus Sash and Life Orb he had gotten himself, now sitting in his pocket. "What the heck are you doing?"

"I'm gonna miss the boat to the tournament!" Sean answered, "Isn't that were you're going too?"

Clegs nodded, and continued to run, saving his breath for the jog he had ahead of him. Luck was on their side, as each time the two came to an intersection, the traffic had stopped. In less than a minute, they were charging down the pier that the boat had just left.

_I can still make it,_ Clegs thought. He pulled out Skarmory's ball, and was about to call over to Sean, when he realized the boy was already working on his own plan. While he jumped from lamppost to lamppost, Quill was flying ahead with Sparky on its back. The two Pokémon landed on a lamppost on the very edge of the pier. Sparky leapt from its spot on Quil's back and onto a metal cable that ran between two of the lampposts. A second later, Sean had landed on the same cable, which reached for the ground under his weight. "Now!" Sean ordered.

Electricity sparked around Sparky, and the wire shot back into a straight line between the two lampposts.

Clegs didn't even realize he had stopped running to watch as Sean sailed through the air, landing on the back railing of the Royal Anne with ease. For a second it looked like Sean might tumble into the ocean, but the kid quickly regained his balance and jumped onto the deck.

It wasn't until Quil and Sparky had flown away had Clegs realized his mouth was hanging open slightly. He ignored that the last minute of his life even happened, and quickly called out his Skarmory.

A minute later, he was flying over the back deck. Sean had been assaulted by a crowd that had apparently seen his little stunt as well. One of the crew members managed to yank him away from the fanclub long enough to take a purple boarding ticket from the boy. Clegs set himself down next to the crew member, who validated his ticket as well.

Clegs found himself walking with Sean as the crew member showed the kid to his room. "So, that was some act you pulled back there."

Sean chuckled, "Yeah, I'm pretty good aren't I?" He turned to Clegs with sparkling eyes. "You ever heard of the Hoenn Ninja Group? My dream is to join them one day," he declared. Clegs cracked a sly grin at this, which Sean noticed. "What are you grinning at?"

"Nothing," Clegs was almost laughing for some reason he couldn't explain. "It's just that these ninja's you dream of joining, well I've met them and I'm not at all impressed." He continued before Sean could object, "I don't know what you've heard, but I'll dispel any rumors for you. They're just a bunch of kids that run through the grass claiming to the world's greatest ninjas."

"What?"

Clegs instantly regretted all he said. Sean looked like a tiny Lillipup that had just been cheated out of its meal. Apparently Sean had put a lot of thought into joining the HNG. "But you know," Clegs added quickly, "Koga and his daughter will be at this tournament. They're world famous, so maybe you can become one of their apprentices."

Sean looked a bit happier with this information, but he didn't get much time to think it over. "Your room," the crew member had stopped leading them, and gestured to a door to Clegs left. "You have a VIP spectator ticket, so please, let me know if you need anything. Enjoy your stay."

Sean nodded, still not over his crushed dream. He turned to Clegs, his back to the room. "Well, thanks," Sean turned quickly and disappeared into his room.

"Bye," Clegs said with a half-smile to the closed door. He looked around and realized he was pretty close to his own room. The thought of his bed brought a yawn to his lips. He'd spent the previous nights addicted to the blackjack tables that they had on the cruise liner, never really winning or losing, and usually slept the day away. It was rare that he was tired before three in the morning.

He walked lazily to his room, wondering if he might catch his roommate. He didn't have the luck to get a single room, like Sean's VIP ticket, and he had yet to see who had the fortune to share a sleeping space with him.

Finally, Clegs had reached the door marked 412 and walked inside.

"And then the idiot had the nerve to call me a homosexual! Can you believe it Geno? He is just the worst," an angry, yet unwelcomingly familiar voice chided. Clegs froze with the door half open, just enough for him to see the other occupant of the room. Sitting on the second bed with his back to the door, was Chrisomething or other, 'fabulous' blue hair and all. He was slowly dragging a brush through the fur of a Monferno, apparently ranting to the monkey about yesterday.

Clegs slowly closed the door, as silently as possible, before bringing a hand to his face. _I wonder if the tables are open yet,_ he wondered with a disgruntled spirit.

* * *

Kaith: And ignoring my other fics, I update this one instead. Hope you all liked it~ Please review!


	4. Chapter 3: On The Road

**Chapter 3: On The Road  
**

_**Five days before**_

* * *

"I'm sorry, but there are special rules for this year's tournament," the guard said. He looked up from the trainer card and badges to the trainer dressed from head to toe in black. The trainer didn't seem like a threat, in fact he looked extremely bored, but for some reason he felt slightly anxious around this kid. Not even the cute looking Cubone that stood at the trainers feet could ease his anxiety. "We're supposed to wait for the Royal Anne to arrive with the rest of the participants before letting anyone through to Victory Road."

Sparta half frowned before taking his trainer card back.

"The boat should be here in two days," the guard added hastily after what seemed like an hour of awkward silence. "There's an inn about a mile south if you need a place to stay."

"Okay," and with that Sparta walked away, his little Cubone just a step behind. The guard sighed heavily and watched the teen walk away.

It was a pretty mild day, not too hot, it wasn't muggy either, and there wasn't really a breeze rolling across the land. Mountains peaks climbed high into the sky on either side of the narrow path that Sparta walked. The rocky, unbeaten path was proof enough that few trainers traveled these parts. The Pokémon were so aggressive that any light-hearted trainer would find themselves rocked to the core after a single battle.

After a short walk, Sparta and Cubone found themselves alongside a small lake. He remembered the inn was still another hour down the road, and Sparta didn't feel like finishing the walk. He stopped and turned to his Cubone, "You wanna sleep here tonight?"

"Cu!" his partner nodded quickly.

Sparta half-smiled and followed his Pokémon, which had already run off the path in search of berries. As Cubone disappeared into some bushes, Sparta walked towards the lake. A few Magikarp were skimming the surface of the water and a small pack of Mankey splashed around in the shallows.

The teen settled himself below a rather large oak tree that sat along the shoreline. Weathered roots had worked themselves out of the ground, reaching desperately for the edge of the water. Sparta leaned his head back to rest against the tree and closed his eyes. It was perfect napping weather.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed when he woke up, but judging by the position of the sun, it hadn't been long. Cubone was back, snoozing next to Sparta, the remains of several berries lay at the Pokémon's feet.

It was hotter now, the heat kissing his skin even through the shade of the oak tree. Sparta was half tempted to peel off his black sweater, but decided against it. Instead, he opted to pulling a small book out of his backpack. After digging for a pencil, Sparta flipped through the pages in pursuit of a blank one.

As the pages turned, many different sketches flashed before Sparta's eyes. Some were of Pokémon, others of landscapes and overviews of cities. When Sparta reached a blank page, he flipped back momentarily to check a half-finished picture of Cubone.

As if on cue, Cubone snored and rolled itself over. Even in its sleep Cubone apparently didn't like people staring at it. Sparta flipped back to the blank page and looked back up across the lake. The image now engraved into his mind, Sparta put pencil to paper.

"Geronimo!"

A small bomb had appeared to go off. Water shot high into the air as the body of a woman dropped into the lake.

Sparta looked up from his sketch book, slightly startled. Where in the world had that come from?

To answer his unasked question, a large Charizard slowly began to circle down to the lake. The pack of Mankey that had been playing joyfully only moments before were now in a panic, screeching in fear as they stumbled away from the lake towards the safety of the bushes.

A few moments later, the woman surfaced. She threw her head back, whipping her long blond hair out of her face. Sparta couldn't hear what she had said, but she appeared to have signaled the Charizard because the flying lizard stopped its lazy decent and dove right at her.

Throwing her arms up, the blond caught her Charizard by the legs and was pulled from the water like a Pelipper might scoop up its meal. Her laughter echoed across the lake, but from this distance it sounded like the laugh of a mad scientist.

Sparta couldn't help but watch the Charizard and its trainer fly towards him. Within a minute, the two had set down only a few feet in front of Sparta. However, the blond woman had failed to notice the teen dressed completely in black.

Instead, she raised her arms above her head and stretched. "That felt great," she sighed happily. She looked herself over while putting her hair up in a ponytail. "I guess I should have taken my clothes off first though. Oh well, they can dry while I swim some more."

As she began to peel her blouse off, Sparta went wide-eyed and completely frozen. What in Arceus' name was he supposed to even say in this situation?

"Here Seme, can you hang this up for me?" The blond tossed her shirt at her Charizard, the water soaked blouse landing across its snout. Seme shook its head quickly and sneezed. The Charizard turned around, and for the first time noticed Sparta.

Both looked equally surprised to see each other, but when the woman began to remove her pants, Seme growled quickly at her.

"Oh what is it?" she sounded slightly annoyed that her stripping had been interrupted. She turned to look at Charizard, but Sparta caught her eye first. His mouth was hanging open now, a blank look painted across his face.

Realization shot both of them, and Sparta slapped his sketchbook into his face to hide his blush. He spoke quickly in a straight as voice as possible, "So do you always strip in front of strangers?"

"Not usually," she replied. Sparta's sketchbook was lowered by her hand and his eyes came into contact with hers. "Besides, I wasn't stripping. I was changing into my swimming suit." She smiled cheerfully at him.

Sparta looked her up and down quickly, realizing that she was wearing a dark red bikini underneath her clothes. Her pants had already been discarded, which were now lying at Seme's feet. She stuck out her hand, "My name's Simbachu," she smiled. "But my friends call me Simba!"

Sparta merely looked at the hand. "Sparta," he replied quietly.

Simbachu frowned slightly and retraced her hand. "So what are you doing out here anyways?"

"…"

"Are you a challenger too?"

"…"

"You don't have very good people skills do you?" Simbachu frowned and set herself down on the grass. She glanced at the Cubone, who was still fast asleep. "Your Cubone is cute. What's his name?"

"Cubone."

"Oh! You can talk." Simbachu giggled.

Sparta rolled his eyes and attempted to look like he was drawing something in his book. Apparently squiggles were the best he could accomplish. Ever since this Simbachu had appeared, the image Sparta had had locked in his brain had been torn to shreds.

"You're not very good, are you?"

Sparta almost jumped. How had he not noticed her move behind him? Simbachu was peering over his shoulder, squinting at the drawing. "What's it supposed to be? A Pokémon?"

"No, you. I just couldn't fit your big head on here." Sparta remarked.

A sharp pain resonated from Sparta's head as Simbachu's fist connected with it. Sparta cried out in pain, dropping his pad and pencil to instead hold his head. "Who're you calling fat?" Simbachu growled, her body shaking with rage.

Sparta opened his mouth, but quickly closed it. He didn't know for the life of him what had possessed him to say that previous comment in the first place. Arceus knows what might come out of his mouth next.

"Not talking huh?" Simbachu seemed to get an evil glint in her eyes. "In that case I'll have to drag out into the lake until you talk!" She launched herself at Sparta and grabbed his feet, ripping off his shoes and socks in no time flat.

As the two trainers yelled at each other, Simbachu's Charizard had set itself down next to the little Cubone. Seme sniffed at the sleeping Pokémon, poking the Cubone with its snout. Cubone retaliated by flipping over, bringing its arm that held its club down onto Seme's snout.

Seme recoiled in pain, holding its snout in pain. The Charizard growled at Cubone, and fire began building up in the back of its throat. But before it had a chance to try barbeque Cubone, a sharp pain came to Seme's gut.

The Charizard doubled over in pain. Before Seme got a chance to eve breath, two swift whacks were delivered to its head. Seme backed away from the Cubone, ready for a fight. Amazingly, it was still asleep, cuddling the small club it carried. When another hit was delivered to Seme's foot this time, the Charizard gave up and flew into the air, settling instead for a vacant spot on the beach.

Seme held its tail protectively, afraid that whatever invisible force had attack it would strike at its tail next.

While this had gone on, Sparta's wool hat had been lost and he was already halfway to the water. His dark hair was filled with sand, and he was struggling to keep his pants on.

"Let go!" Sparta cried out, wiggling to get free. "What the hell kinda punishment is this?"

"We can do this the hard way, or the easy way!" Simbachu laughed. "So either take your clothes off willingly, or you get thrown in wearing it all!"

"Why are you trying to get my clothes off?" Sparta snapped, "Are you a cougar or something?"

Red rose to Simbachu's face and a vein budged in her forehead. "Cougar?" She asked quietly. A chill rain down Sparta's spine. He had clearly said something wrong again. "Cougar?" She repeated, louder this time. "Just how old do you think I am?" Simbachu had snapped. She drove a foot into his side, kicking Sparta into the water.

"I'll have you know I'm only seventeen!" She snapped at Sparta, who was trembling in pain. Simbachu spun on the spot and walked away, "Come on Seme!"

The Charizard was more than happy to oblige, and flew quickly to its trainers side.

Sparta sat up slowly, wincing at the pain in his side. He grumbled angrily, shooting Simbachu an annoyed look, "What the hell is wrong with her?"

* * *

"…and without the…" Valerie furrowed her brow and attempted to translate the words before from memory. "…tool?" Valerie sighed and sat up. She brushed a loose strand of her brown hair behind her ear. "What do you think Drifblim?"

"Lim…"

Valerie's Drifblim sighed and continued to float along, high over Sinnoh. Valerie sighed, "I give up." She tucked the old book back into her backpack and flipped herself around. She placed her head in her hands and looked down at the landscape from the top of her Pokémon. "Where are we anyways? I need to stretch my legs."

A flock of Starly flew by underneath, and the red roof of a Pokécenter was visible below. Nearby the center a group of Pokémon seemed to be playing inside a fenced in area. Immediately, Valerie's eyes lit up. "Hey! This is Solaceon Town!" She glanced down to check the time on her watch. "I think I've got plenty of time for a side-trip, don't you?"

"Lim…" Her Pokémon replied, sounding as excited as ever.

They descended quickly, and Drifblim dropped its trainer off right in front of the Pokécenter. Valerie hummed happily to herself and she recalled her Pokémon, quickly replacing it with her Ninetales. The majestic fox stretched its limbs and Valerie knelt down to pet Ninetales head. "We're not in Sunyshore yet," she explained, "but you and I are gonna check out the ruins here."

Ninetales didn't seem to care much where they were, or maybe it was just too used to Valerie making constant side-trips whenever they traveled anywhere.

"Excuse me, you're blocking the entrance."

Val and Ninetales looked up to the newcomer. His black hair looked like a ragged mess, but the devilish look seemed to suit him. His black hoodie was unzipped to a plain white tee. Valerie could just make out the string to some sort of pendant around his neck, but the pendant itself was hidden beneath the tee.

"Oh, sorry." Valerie stood back up. "I was just leaving."

As she began to walk away, a peculiar Pokémon caught her eyes. She hadn't seen it before, because Ninetales was blocking her view, but the trainer was traveling with an Umbreon. Umbreon wasn't exactly a rare occurrence to Valerie, her neighbor Mr. Brown had an Umbreon she saw daily on her little trips to the forest back home. However, this Umbreon had blue rings.

Before she could think about these rings any more, the boy and his Pokémon disappeared into the Pokécenter. Valerie shrugged it off and set her mind back on the task at hand; the Solaceon Ruins.

She had to only ask for directions once, but after pushing through a small forest, Valerie found herself at the entrance to the ruins. She rubbed her palms together greedily. "Ready for a discovery Ninetales?"

Ninetales was busy grooming herself.

Paying no attention to the lack of enthusiasm from her Pokémon, Valerie walked right on in. She had been here before, twice actually, but both times she had failed to discover anything that hadn't already been discovered by ruin maniacs before her.

In the gloom of the entrance, Valerie spotted and Unknown hovering near one of the staircases. From experience, Valerie knew that particular staircase lead to a dead-end in the ruins. What she really wanted was to get down to the deepest chambers of the ruins.

The Unknown seemed to not notice her or her Ninetales until Valerie was close enough to practically touch it. The letter Pokémon was so frightened to see her that it flashed white and teleported away. The flash had left Valerie temporary blinded, but she blinked her vision back in a few seconds.

Ninetales was poised the top of the staircase that lead deeper into the ruins, looking slightly bored, but Valerie was still rooted to the top of the other staircase. Something didn't seem right to her. The Unknown around here were usually pretty friendly, even to complete strangers, so the actions this one took bothered her. Why did it run at the mere sight of her?

Deciding to follow her instincts, Valerie slowly walked down the staircase. Her Ninetales shot her a quizzical look before following. The fox bumped into its trainer at the bottom of the stairs. It was darker here, near impossible to see. But a foul smell was hanging around, so strong that it made the Pokémon dizzy.

"Ninetales, a little light please?" Valerie asked.

Nine ghostly lights appeared around Ninetales' tails, the Will-o-Whips lighting the room in a dark color. Valerie inhaled sharply. The entire room looked like the aftermath of an earthquake. Deep gouges were cut into the walls and ceiling, jagged boulders lay around the room on top of piles of rubble, and large pieces of the symbols that used to run along the entire room were now unreadable.

"My god…" Valerie said quietly, looking around at the damage. She hesitantly took a step into the destruction. By the looks of the room, it would be safe to say that the smell that hung in the air was likely gunpowder.

"Who…who would do this?" Valerie asked her Pokémon. "I…" The trainer clenched her fist and ran it into the nearby boulder. Cracks ran up and down the large rock, and a little blood ran from Valerie's fist. "I'm gonna kill the moron that would dare destroy this much history!"

Ninetales continued to walk about the destruction, carefully stepping around the fallen rocks as its trainer continued to list off the things that she would do to the culprit. As the fox continued to walk around the room, another smell permeated the pungent smell of gunpowder. Turning towards its left, Ninetales spotted a small opening that was hidden behind another fallen boulder.

"Nine!"

Valerie stopped ranting and turned to her Pokémon. Ninetales was currently butting its head against a large boulder that was leaning against the wall, like it was trying to move the rock. "Did you find something?" Valerie asked, her rage forgotten and replaced with curiosity.

Ninetales pointed to the small opening just visible behind the fallen rock with its snout. Valerie followed her Pokémon's gaze and her eyes lit up. "A secret room?" She was jittery with excitement, "Well what are we waiting for? Push!"

Valerie and Ninetales threw themselves against the rock and had it pushed aside in no time. Old musty air flowed out and Valerie had to pinch her nose shut for a moment. "Arceus, it's like something died in there."

She stepped into the room, followed by Ninetales, and found she was right. Something _had _died in here. In the light that the Will-o-Whips gave off, Valerie saw two skeletons lying against the wall. The bones were still covered in the brown rags that used to be clothing, but it was easy to tell that they had been dead for a few decades.

"Light the room," Valerie ordered as she reached into her backpack and pulled out a leather-bound journal. Ninetales' Will-o-Whips flew to the corners of the room, illuminating the hidden chamber with an eerie glow. Valerie crossed the room and immediately started jotting down notes on her notepad.

_Two skeletons, male, dressed in armor. Age: Unknown, estimated to be 200 years or older. _

Valerie knelt down and examined the skeletons closely. However, her attention was drawn to the dust void between the two. They must have been guarding something, something big by the look things.

_Dust void between men, most likely a chest taken by thieves. _

Valerie jotted down a few more notes hastily, mostly guesses on what they were guarding or who the men might have been. When she looked up again, Valerie almost dropped her notepad. "It can't be…" she half muttered.

Quickly, Valerie pulled out the book she had been trying to translate for ages. She looked from the book to the wall and from the wall back to the book. There they were, the same exact images that had stumped her for ages were carved into the wall. Curved and twisted along the ancient murals, the symbols seemed to cover every inch. "This isn't a book written in code, it's written in an entirely different language." She inhaled quickly as the realization hit her. "A language older than the Unknown Alphabet."

Before Valerie had a chance to examine the glyphs any further, the light from the room vanished. "Ninetales!" Valerie was losing her patience quickly with the Pokémon, especially now that she was on the verge of this discovery.

Ninetales slapped one of its tails across Valerie's mouth. Through the darkness, Valerie saw that her Pokémon was staring intently at the entrance. She looked up and felt her heart stop. Two shadows were quickly descending down the staircase, more than likely the thieves who had stolen whatever had been in this room.

The thought of what these two had done to the previous room boiled up inside Valerie. She pushed the tail aside and marched right up to the entrance, ready to give them a piece of her mind. Ninetales had to play the logical role and charge ahead to intercept Valerie, pushing her against a wall.

Before Valerie could object to her Pokémon's behavior, the voices spoke.

"So did you find it here?" A woman's voice asked.

A man replied, slight hesitancy in his voice. "W-We did ma'am. However, it was only a piece of the flute."

"Still, I never did expect to find any of the pieces out here. You have my thanks Eugene."

"I-I-it was nothing Kathy!"

"No I," Kathy stopped and so did the footsteps. "I thought you covered the entrance before we left."

"I-I did. W-Why do you as," Eugene must have noticed the rock had been pushed aside now. "N-N-No!" Hurried footsteps ran towards the room. Valerie half expected him to find her, but a small sniveling man, Eugene she guessed, ran right in and held up a light to the wall above the two skeletons.

Eugene gave a sigh of relief as he found a picture of Arceus. "T-Thank heaven it's safe," he sighed.

Valerie almost walked up to the carving as well, if it hadn't been for a red-haired woman walking into the room. She almost threw up at the sight of the woman's Eevee fur coat. Who in the world would walk around shamelessly while wearing something like that? But the coat itself wasn't really what bothered her. There was just something about this woman that made dread wash over Valerie.

"Is this part of the ruins that important?" Kathy asked.

"Y-Yes!" Eugene exclaimed. "I-I've only translated part of it, but I-I have a r-rough idea of where w-we can find the next piece."

"You mean there's more?"

Valerie decided that now would be the best time to escape. She edged out of the room and once she was clear, bolted up the stairs, not caring how much noise she made.

"Krow!"

Valerie almost tumbled back down the staircase. Sitting at the top of stairs was an oversized Honchkrow, its eyes glaring red. She hadn't even realized she had been caught in a Mean Look until Valerie tired moving her arms.

"Well, what do we have here?"

Dread washed over Valerie as the voice of Kathy walked slowly up the stairs. Her heels clicked with each slow step she took. "It seems we caught a rat and her pet."

A shiver ran down Valerie's spine when the woman placed a hand on her cheek. Kathy slowly traced her finger along the girl's jawline until Kathy herself was standing in front of Valerie. Forcefully, Kathy jerked Valerie's head up so she could look directly into her eyes. "Who are you?"

Valerie bit the inside of her mouth.

"Not talking?" Kathy raised an eyebrow. "I can fix that." A sharp, burning pain came across Valerie's cheek as Kathy slapped her. "It will only take a few minutes to break you."

Valerie held back tears; her cheek stung so badly that it was hard to believe she had only been slapped. Just what in the world had she gotten herself into?

Kathy raised her hand again, and that's when the Honchkrow disappeared. Valerie felt her body go limp and she ducked the next blow.

"What!?" Kathy exclaimed.

"Flame Burst!" Valerie ordered.

Fire shot from Ninetales' mouth and hit Kathy directly in the chest. The red-haired woman flew backwards, knocked off her feet. Her Eevee coat was slightly singed, which brought a small smile to Valerie's face.

Rising to her feet, Valerie ran for the entrance. She glanced over her shoulder first to make sure that she wasn't being pursued. Kathy was struggling to her feet, while Honchkrow was lying against the far away, knocked out.

Recalling Ninetales, Valerie burst into the sunlight. Her mind raced as she called out her Drifblim and hopped onto it. "Fly!" She exclaimed.

Drifblim showed no hesitation as it shot high into the air. Valerie glanced behind herself once one. Standing next to the entrance was someone she had not expected. A Lucario, and the trainer with a mess of black hair.

* * *

Kaith: Yes, a short chapter, but important all the same! Slowly but surely the characters are coming together! I haven't forgotten Sparta and Simbachu, they just never had much relevance until now =P Valerie's making her way to Sunyshore, so she's bound to run into some more in the next chapter!

Please Review~!


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